Simu Liu calls out the lack of Asian representation in present-day Hollywood: “We’re fighting a deeply prejudiced system”
Simu Liu is known for playing the titular role in Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings as well as one of the Kens in Barbie. Now, the actor is using his platform to speak out against the lack of Asian representation in movies.
Threads user @selfieignite took to the social media site to share various screenshots of headlines and quotes from Asian actors to #FilmThreads with the caption, "Hollywood, put more Asian men in romantic lead roles." The post shows Manny Jacinto, John Cho, and Daniel Dae Kim talking about Hollywood and losing out on romantic lead roles.
Liu reshared the post with his own thoughts.
"Put some asians in literally anything right now. The amount of backslide in our representation onscreen is [expletive] appalling," Liu wrote.
"Studios think we’re 'risky.' Minari, Farewell, Past Lives, Everything Everywhere, Crazy Rich, Shang Chi. 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."
"We’re fighting a deeply prejudiced system, and most days it SUCKS," Liu concluded.
Reactions to Simu Liu's post
Liu's post has over 11k likes and 770 comments at the time of publishing. Many people agree with the actor, while others say they have taken to watching K-Dramas instead of Hollywood-produced entertainment.
"Think about all of the spell-binding performances and stories audiences are missing out on," one person wrote.
"HOLLYWOOD: Asian men are a risky investment. IRL: BTS contributes $5 billion annually to the Korean economy ... Because the popularity of these seven ASIAN MEN fuels interest in tourism and Korean exports ... Hollywood is afraid of the Asian effect. Ignoring it won’t make it go away. But the audience is leaving in droves and turning to content produced in Asia," another shared.
"Daniel Dae Kim should be one of the biggest stars of this century. Manny should be on a Pedro Pascal-type run. Hollywood is wasting generational talents," one commenter added.
"I was so sure we'd see an explosion after Shang Chi and Crazy Rich Asians. But Everything, Everywhere was treated as a surprise hit. And even after that, it's dry out here. They say Hollywood is greedy. But they're dumber than they are greedy," another person wrote.
"But they'll cast Jared freakin' Leto over and over again despite him killing huge movies," someone else observed.
What's next for Simu Liu?
Marvel fans have been very frustrated that there hasn't been a sequel to Shang-Chi. Liu is confirmed to play the character in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. However, people are annoyed that so many "new" MCU characters only got one project before the big team-up movie.
A Shang-Chi sequel has been reportedly in the works for a long time, but it's been four years since the first movie's release, and there have been no big developments on the sequel.
Currently, you can hear Liu voice the father in Netflix's In Your Dreams. Liu and his co-star, Cristin Milioti, sing the song "The Holding On and the Letting Go," which could end up with an Oscar nomination for Best Song.
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