Ken Jeong is giving back following the shootings at three Atlanta-area spas last week that left eight dead.
“The Masked Singer” judge made five $10,000 donations to the GoFundMe pages for Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Xiaojie Tan and Yong Yue, NBC News confirms.
In a video shared to his Twitter last week, Ken condemned the hate crimes and violence targeted at the AAPI community, saying, “Enough is enough…stop the pandemic of hate.” He’s joined in the video by Keiko Agena, Manish Dayal and Lou Diamond Phillips.
— Ken Jeong (@kenjeong) March 19, 2021
During an appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” this week, Ken shared his reaction to the shootings, saying, “With regard to the situation in Atlanta and the shootings in Atlanta, my heart, thoughts and prayers go out to all affected.”
“And a special shout out to Karen Chee, your writer, who had a very eloquent piece on the day that it happened. It was very moving,” he added, referencing a powerful segment from last week in which TV writer Karen Chee called the shooting “a textbook hate crime.”
— Ken Jeong (@kenjeong) March 23, 2021
Ken continued, “It’s just a sign that, you know, with the Asian American community, enough is enough. We’re just fed up.”
Ken also referenced a study from Karen’s segment which reports that anti-Asian American crime has risen almost 150 percent in the last year. “This is precisely due to weaponizing terms like ‘China Virus’ and ‘Kung Flu,’” he said.
“This was clearly, clearly racially motivated. This was clearly a hate crime,” he said of the shooting.
“You know, as a guy who used to be a doctor and whose wife is still practicing medicine, I have an idea of how to solve Covid,” he continued. “It’s mask, vaccination, common sense, don’t be an a**hole.”
“But I think that…as a human, I don’t know how to solve racism,” he continued. “It takes listening, learning, loving, being tolerant, but you know, it really starts off, in our particular case as Asian Americans…this ‘Kung Flu’ s**t has got to stop, and we really need to express that loudly. And we are.”
Ken isn’t the only celebrity speaking out for the #StopAsianHate movement. “X-Men: Apocalypse” star Olivia Munn tweeted last week, “The violent attacks and murders against Asians are still happening. Please help us. We need help to be safe in our country. #StopAsianHate. Please.”
“Crazy Rich Asians” actress Gemma Chan shared a lengthy response on her Instagram last week, writing in part, “Heartbroken for the families of the 8 victims, 6 of whom were Asian women. Please pay attention to what is happening. This is the latest in a surge of horrific attacks on the Asian community. Racism and misogyny are not mutually exclusive. In fact, sexualised racial harassment and violence is something that many of us face regularly.”
Lana Condor of “To All The Boys” penned a message asking her followers to check on their Asian friends, writing on Twitter, “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.”