After three shootings near Atlanta, celebrities are speaking out about the latest tragedy in the Asian community.
Eight people, most of them women of Asian descent, were killed Tuesday night in three shootings at Atlanta-area massage parlors before police arrested 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, the man suspected of being the lone gunman.
Police have not released the names of the victims nor indicated any possible motive of the suspect but at least four were of Korean descent, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said in statement Wednesday. Authorities also told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that six of the eight victims appeared to be Asian women.
The killings came amid a recent wave of attacks against Asian Americans that coincided with the spread of the coronavirus across the United States.
Atlanta-area spa shootings: 8 dead in 3 shootings at massage parlors in Georgia; suspect arrested
Actor Daniel Dae Kim said: “The race of the person committing the crime matters less than the simple fact that if you act with hate in your heart, you are part of the problem. And to those with the power to help and yet sit idly by, your silence is complicity. #StopAsianHate.”
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The race of the person committing the crime matters less than the simple fact that if you act with hate in your heart, you are part of the problem. And to those with the power to help and yet sit idly by, your silence is complicity. #StopAsianHatehttps://t.co/0QaLoXhtP0
Other stars took to social media to spread awareness about the event, with “To All the Boys I Loved Before” actress Lana Condor urging her followers to “wake up” and encouraging people to be allies to the Asian community.
“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.”
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
Olivia Munn, who recently called out new Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Alexi McCammond for her past racist tweets against Asians, also reacted to the news.
“The violent attacks and murders against Asians are still happening,” she wrote. “Please help us. We need help to be safe in our country.”
The violent attacks and murders against Asians are still happening.
Please help us.
We need help to be safe in our country.#StopAsianHate. Please. pic.twitter.com/NJ3knm1hlo
George Takei called the shooting “a hate crime.”
Takei also urged GOP leaders to “stop fanning violence with anti-Asian rhetoric.” On March 9, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy shared online COVID-19 resources, but used the term “Chinese coronavirus.”
“Words have consequences, especially those from our leaders,” Takei continued. “Reporters: Ask politicians who trade in racism if they feel responsible or remorseful for violence committed in the wake of their words.”
Call a hate crime what it is.
And GOP leaders, stop fanning violence with anti-Asian rhetoric.
You should be ashamed at what you have unleashed.
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Comedian Mindy Kaling urged people to fight against the normalization of anti-Asian rhetoric.
“The targeting of our Asian brothers and sisters is sickening, but not surprising given the normalizing of anti-Asian hate speech in the past year. We have to #StopAsianHate, enough is enough!”
The targeting of our Asian brothers and sisters is sickening, but not surprising given the normalizing of anti-Asian hate speech in the past year. We have to #StopAsianHate, enough is enough!
“Shang Chi” star Simu Liu described “feeling overwhelming grief at the senseless murder of 8 people in Atlanta.
“Still much we don’t know, but it’s clear to me that the shooter specifically targeted Asian women. Praying for the victims’ families, and for my Asian sisters. Action to follow,” he said.
Feeling overwhelming grief at the senseless murder of 8 people in Atlanta. Still much we don’t know, but it’s clear to me that the shooter specifically targeted Asian women.
Praying for the victims’ families, and for my Asian sisters. Action to follow.https://t.co/DjMcG0sBbv
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Kahmora Hall, a Season 13 contestant on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” wrote, “Every day I worry about if it were my parents, sisters, cousins & friends in that heartbreaking situation. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. #STOPAsianHate.”
Every day I worry about if it were my parents, sisters, cousins & friends in that heartbreaking situation. My thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families. #STOPAsianHate
John Legend said he is “sending love to all the loved ones of those whose lives were taken.
“Absolutely horrible,” the “All of Me” singer wrote in response to Tuesday night’s shooting. “Our nation needs to reckon with the increased threats being directed at our Asian-American brothers and sisters.”
Absolutely horrible. Sending love to all the loved ones of those whose lives were taken. Our nation needs to reckon with the increased threats being directed at our Asian-American brothers and sisters. https://t.co/52DCKPeDOt
“This escalation of attacks on Asian Americans is horrifying. STOP IT. Stop this sickness America. Stop this brutality,” Patricia Arquette tweeted.
Alyssa Milano showed her support by writing that she stands with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, and singer Sara Bareilles described hate toward Asian Americans as “loud,” “exhausting” and “destructive.”
Contributing: Jordan Culver
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