Join The Club
In the last few years there has been a ton of conversation about the power of representation in Hollywood. That include Asian representation, and there have been some major steps forward thanks to a number of acclaimed projects like Crazy Rich Asians, Everything Everywhere all at Once, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (the latter of which is streaming with a Disney+ subscription). But Simu Liu recently called out the "hate campaign" that can often come when an Asian actor ends up finding fame. Let's break it all down.
Liu has been open about how Shang-Chi was a big deal for representation, and his career has been thriving ever since. But the 37-year-old actor recently took to Threads to speak about a trend involving actors of color getting hate after their big break. In his words:
Soo I have this very specific trauma attached to people on the internet fabricating things about me and twisting things into a massive hate campaign when I first broke out. I began to recognize patterns whenever people of colour specifically had a moment of visibility. It happened like clockwork and I see it happening now. The internet is insane. Bad actors are everywhere. If you’re here, be careful. Be smart. 🤍
After referencing lies and that came his way after booking the title role of Shang-Chi, Simu Liu got honest about a pattern he's feels he sees over and over again with actors of color in Hollywood. He's not the only actor to speak out about how the internet can indeed be "insane," and it sounds like he's seeing the source of his trauma repeated for other actors.
While he didn't name names in his Threads post, many fans think that Liu is referencing the recent controversy surrounding Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams. The show was wildly popular for those with a HBO Max subscription, and catapulted Williams and Connor Storrie into megafame.
Recently though, he's been the subject of backlash thanks to a photo from his teen years that resurfaced showing him with a swastika drawn by someone on his head. This was apparently during an event in High School where other students drew on him. Sources maintain he "deeply regrets" the event, as well as the photos finding their way online.
Of course, we've seen the Internet come at a number of Asian actors. For instance, Star Wars actress Kelly Marie Tran faced intense racist backlash after debuting in The Last Jedi, resulting in her leaving social media and going into therapy simply for being cast. That's not counting other actors of color who have faced similar hate online after achieving career success.
Simu Liu will (finally given that sequel talk) reprise his role as Shang-Chi in Avengers: Doomsday, which hits theaters on December 18th as part of the 2026 movie release list. As for Hudson Williams, we'll have to see if his career is negatively affected by this new controversy.
