Actor Simu Liu, who participated in the 2023 NBA All-Star-Ruffles Celebrity Game on Friday night, has expressed disappointment over the event’s celebrity look-a-like segment in which he was compared to a random Asian spectator.
During the segment, a photo of the “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star was shown side-by-side with the fan’s image on the jumbotron at the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City. Such a comparison is deemed offensive and problematic by many in the community, as it perpetuates the harmful stereotype that all Asians look the same.
“I had a great time but this wasn’t cool,” Liu tweeted about the incident.
to be perfectly clear the entire org and ops team surrounding all-star have been nothing but absolutely stellar to myself and all my friends. this was just one person with a camera. and no disrespect to my man in the videotron either! he’s gorgeous we just don’t look alike
— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) February 18, 2023
The actor also clarified how “the entire org and ops team surrounding all-star have been nothing but absolutely stellar to myself and all my friends,” pointing out that the incident was due to “just one person with a camera.” He also expressed “no disrespect” to the featured spectator, noting that “he’s gorgeous” but they just “don’t look alike.”
While some commenters tried to brush the incident aside as being a common occurrence in fan cams, many lamented the incident as a missed opportunity for the NBA to change negative perceptions about Utah when it comes to race-related issues.
Welp! https://t.co/t3NoHdFeAV
— Dave Lu 呂曉龍 (@davelu) February 18, 2023
“Does not look like you at all!” one Twitter user wrote. “Man they messed up on this one esp comparing to the other look-alikes. If it’s meant to be a joke, should’ve done the same to the others, but theirs looked pretty accurate. Not all Asians look the same.”
Does not look like you at all! Man…
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