Fast Links
Actor Simu Liu hit back at the NBA All-star Game for comparing him to a man he doesn’t look like. The actor complained that the action seemed racist, adding that it followed the idea that all Asians look the same. Find out what happened below. Â
Actor Simu Liu Hit Back At NBA’s All-star GameÂ
Actor Simu Liu did not like the recent NBA All-star game Celebrity look-a-like segment on Friday night.Â
Specifically, he did not like being compared to an Asian fan during the segment.Â
“I had a great time but this wasn’t cool,” the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star tweeted. This was in response to a side-by-side photo of him and the fan displayed on a jumbotron.
Simu and team Dwyane [Wade] played against Ryan Smith’s star-studded team on Friday evening, and Simu’s team won the game.Â
He later took to Twitter to clarify his initial tweet, blaming the cameraperson rather than the NBA.
Simu explained that the entire NBA administration and team treated him and his friends well.Â
He wrote, “this was just one person with a camera. and no disrespect to my man in the videotron either! he’s gorgeous we just don’t look alike.”Â
Tweeps Mount Backlash Against The NBAÂ
Many Twitter users also agreed with Actor Simu Liu that the choice of a look-alike was poor.Â
“Let’s pick random Asian dude” smdh,’ one Twitter user wrote, while another condemned it, writing that it is “bad in many ways.”
However, some tweeps disagreed with the actor saying he shouldn’t have taken it seriously since it was a joke. Some also argued that ethnicity and hairstyles are sometimes all it takes to do a celebrity comparison.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn57dnQO_AA/?hl=en
Subsequently, another Twitter user presented a case for Simu. “The issue here is that they have no similar characteristics other than being Asian,” he wrote.Â
Usually, when they do this bit, there’s SOMETHING to connect. Haircut, beard, build something. He concluded that the comparison followed the “all Asians look alike” stereotype.Â
While many argue that it wasn’t a racist situation, others think that racists don’t think before they act on their ideals. Meanwhile, the NBA is yet to issue a statement about the situation.Â
Thankfully, actor Simu Liu clarified that he only has a case against the cameraman, not the NBA. Hopefully, things do not escalate beyond this.Â