'The Boys' Actor Karen Fukuhara Brings Awareness to Anti-Asian Hate Crimes After Being Attacked Outside a Cafe
Yesterday, "The Boys" actress Karen Fukuhara posted to Instagram detailing an incident when she was struck in the back of the head on her way to get coffee in a series of images of white text on black. The post was simply captioned with the hashtag #stopasianhate.
Fukuhara describes, "I rarely share about my private life but something happened today that I thought was important. I was walking to a cafe for some coffee and a man struck me in the back of my head. It came out of nowhere. We made no eye contact before, I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. It came to my surprise and my hat flew off. By the time I looked back, he was a few feet away from me he must have kept walking after hitting me)...After a few seconds of staring at each other, and him yelling at me, he eventually walked away."
Fukuhara goes on to say that her purpose in revealing the frightening incident was to remind the "multi-racial" people around her that such hateful attacks can happen to people they know and to draw further awareness to the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes. The incident further made her consider taking self-defense classes, though Fukuhara questioned why she would even need to think about this.
The increase in anti-Asian attacks have often been attributed to President Donald Trump's blaming China during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. As demonstrated in Fukuhara's case, the president's scapegoating made it so Asians and Asian Americans at large became at risk of attack, and not just Chinese or Chinese Americans. Fukuhara is Japanese American.
Fukuhara's post also drew a round of support and condemnation from her fellow "The Boys" costars. Chase Crawford wrote, "F this person!! Hope you're ok this is awful," and Jack Quaid offered, "Karen thank you for sharing your experience. I'm sorry that happened to you. Love you. Here if you need anything." Laz Alonso shared, "This pisses me off. Wish I was there...." Other celebrities, such as Olivia Munn, Jamie Chung, and Jay Hernandez, also expressed anger, frustration, and gratefulness for Fukuhara's safety.
We're happy to hear that nothing worse happened to Fukuhara, and appreciate her bravery in sharing such an incident and standing up for the Asian and Asian American community. We hope the best for Fukuhara as she heals from this horrible incident. Perpetrators of such hateful incidents should be condemned and held accountable.
For more entertainment news and commentary, check out Enstarz! We bring you the latest on your favorite celebrities, TV shows, and films.