Actor Simu Liu called out Hollywood‘s “backslide” of Asian representation in their films in a heated post to Threads on Sunday, sharing several social media reports about Asian actors struggling to secure leading roles.
“Put some Asians in literally anything right now,” he wrote. “The amount of backslide in our representation onscreen is f—ing appalling. Studios think we are risky.”
Liu, who starred in Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” listed off several other well-received movies starring Asian actors, including “Past Lives,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Crazy Rich Asians.”
The Marvel star argued that the success of recent Asian-led films undermines the idea that casting Asian actors is a financial risk.
“Every single one a financial success. No Asian actor has ever lost a studio even close to 100 million dollars but a white dude will lose 200 million TWICE and roll right into the next tentpole lead,” he continued. “We’re fighting a deeply prejudiced system. And most days it SUCKS.”
This was not Liu’s first time publicly calling out perceived anti-Asian racism in the entertainment industry. In 2023, the Marvel star took to Twitter to slam a controversial celebrity look-a-like camera comparison from the NBA’s Celebrity All-Star game that some say perpetuated the problematic “all Asians look alike” stereotype.
“I had a great time but this wasn’t cool,” he tweeted of the incident, sharing a post with a screenshot of the fan side-by-side with an image of himself on the jumbotron.
Many argued that the fan looked nothing like the Marvel star, who was 33 at the time.
Liu continued in the thread, clarifying that his problem was with the cameraman and not the NBA. “To be perfectly clear the entire org and ops team surrounding all-star have been nothing but absolutely stellar to myself and all my friends. 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.”
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The NBA jumbotron controversy highlighted the actor’s broader concerns about the way Asian entertainers are perceived. Liu expanded on those feelings during a recent interview with Variety.
As noted by Variety earlier this month, the actor “has become known for speaking up on social media against right-leaning politics,” and the backlash he receives for speaking his mind doesn’t worry him.
“I probably should be more scared of it,” he told the outlet. “I just feel like there’s something about the internet that makes people just crazy. There’s something about the publicness of it and where people love being the guy to put someone else down [or] put an entire group of people down. I am so not for that energy.”
Fox News Digital’s Taylor Penley contributed to this report.
