Simu Liu has tweeted out his displeasure at being compared to an Asian man in a “celebrity look-a-like” segment simply because of their coethnic background.
The incident happened at the NBA’s Celebrity All-Star game on Friday night.
“I had a great time but this wasn’t cool,” the “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star tweeted.
His complaint came after a side-by-side shot of him and an Asian man was displayed on the Jumbotron at the game, which is being held in Utah (see below).
Fans backed Liu’s complaint.
“ Let’s pick random Asian dude’ smdh,” tweeted one fan, while another wrote, “This is so bad in many ways.”
Another had a sharper take. “The issue here is that they have no similar characteristics other than being Asian. Usually when they do this bit, there’s SOMETHING to connect. Haircut, beard, build, something. This is literally just playing into the ‘all Asians look alike’ stereotype.”
Liu today tweeted that he wasn’t blaming the NBA for the incident.
“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.”