Ken Jeong donated $50K to families of the Atlanta shooting victims

Comedian Ken Jeong made an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers yesterday to address the spike in hate crimes against Asian-Americans across the continent and the racist rhetoric surrounding COVID-19 that’s fuelled it.

Jeong’s virtual visit with Myers comes just a little over a week after a shooter in Atlanta targeted Asian women working in area spas, prompting the actor and former doctor to donate $50,000 to the families of victims Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Xiaojie Tan and Yong Yue. 

The Masked Singer panelist also shared the links to several of the GoFundMe campaigns set up to support the victims’ relatives on his Twitter account, encouraging fans and followers to contribute.

The Atlanta shooting is only the most recent attack against Asian communities in North America — speaking with Myers, Jeong recounted that anti-Asian crime has risen nearly 150% over the course of the last year, while hate crimes overall have decreased by 7%. This increased targeting of Asian-Americans started during a period when former President Trump and his political allies were using racist rhetoric to blame the arrival of COVID-19 on Asian communities and has continued over the course of the past year.

Since the attack in Atlanta, Asian-Americans and allies have been rallying across the country under the banner "Stop Asian Hate." Earlier this week, Canadian actor Sandra Oh appeared at a protest in Oakland, Pennsylvania to make an impassioned speech rallying members of the community to speak out and stand up for each other.

“One thing that I know is that many in our community are very scared, and I understand that,” said the Killing Eve star. “And one way to go through our fear is to reach out to our community. If you see something, will you help me? We must understand, as Asian-Americans, we just need to reach out our hand to our sisters and brothers and say, ‘Help me and I’m here.’” Jeong shared a video of Oh’s speech on his Instagram account with the caption “Proud to be Asian.”

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Ken Jeong (@kenjeong)

Speaking with Myers, Jeong called out “weaponizing terms” like the ones used by Trump against Asian communities, saying that the Atlanta attack was undoubtedly racially motivated. “This was clearly a hate crime,” he told Myers. “This ‘kung flu’ sh*t has to stop,” he added. “We really need to express that loudly. And we are.”

BEFORE YOU GO: Daniel Dae Kim talks taking action and bringing awareness to Anti-Asian hate crimes

[video_embed id='2156973']BEFORE YOU GO: Daniel Dae Kim talks taking action and bringing awareness to Anti-Asian hate crimes [/video_embed]