Celebrity News March 17, 2021
Celebrities Plead to #StopAsianHate After Atlanta Spa Shootings
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On Tuesday, eight people were murdered in three separate spa shootings in the Atlanta area.
Aaron Long, 21, was arrested as a suspect in the shootings, which took place from the afternoon until the early evening.
Six of the victims were Asian women, prompting many big names in Hollywood to promote #StopAsianHate on social media.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the nation, hate crimes against Asian Americans have risen nearly 150%, according to multiple reports.
Olivia Munn tweeted, “The violent attacks and murders against Asians are still happening. Please help us. We need help to be safe in our country. #StopAsianHate. Please.”
Daniel Dae Kim reweeted a video that he made for NowThis, in which he explained ways to help the Asian community amid all these crimes. He said, “There’s something in the American psyche, there’s something in the psyche of people that somehow makes it okay for us to attack and verbally abuse Asian Americans, and especially the most vulnerable of us.”
He tweeted, “This video from @nowthisnews first appeared a few weeks ago, but applies all too directly to yesterday’s events in #Atlanta #StopAsianHate.”
“To All the Boys I Loved Before” star Lana Candor wrote, “Wake up... your Asian friends and family are deeply scared, horrified, sick to their stomachs and wildly angry. Please please please check in on us, please please please stand with us. Please. Your Asian friend needs you, even if they aren’t publicly grieving on social media. X.”
Jamie Chung tweeted, “A scapegoat for a global pandemic. Historically Asian immigrants have been the scapegoat for others misfortunes. This ends now. It starts by calling it what it is. MEDIA YOU NEED TO DO BETTER, CALL IT WHAT IT IS, DOMESTIC TERRORISM HATE CRIMES AGAINST ASIANS.”
See more reactions below:
Just a few days ago, President Biden condemned anti-Asian attacks that have happened across the country. During his primetime address, he said, “Too often, we've turned against one another," he said. "A mask — the easiest thing to do to save lives — sometimes it divides us. States pitted against one another instead of working with each other. Vicious hate crimes against Asian-Americans, who have been attacked, harassed, blamed, and scapegoated.”
“At this very moment, so many of them, our fellow Americans, they're on the front lines of this pandemic trying to save lives," Biden stressed. "And still — still — they are forced to live in fear for their lives just walking down streets in America. It's wrong, it's un-American, and it must stop."
