Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

To All the Boys star Lana Condor slams ‘racist and xenophobic’ Trump for ‘Chinese Virus’ tweets

Netflix star said the US president was putting Asian-American lives in jeopardy

Adam White
Thursday 19 March 2020 09:11 GMT
Comments
Trailer: To All the Boys 2: P.S. I Still Love You

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before star Lana Condor has condemned Donald Trump over his “Chinese Virus” tweets.

The US president has begun referring to coronavirus as “the Chinese virus” in his Twitter posts and in public appearances, after previously referring to it as “coronavirus”. It has since sparked criticism that the use of the new name is racist in origin.

Health officials have condemned the term, adding that coronavirus, or Covid-19, is already a global pandemic.

On Twitter, Condor slammed Trump for potentially endangering people as a result of his words.

“You have no idea the ramifications your racist words and actions have on the Asian-American community,” Condor wrote. “You simply cannot even fathom the danger you are putting our community in.

“How dare you. You should be ashamed of yourself. You call yourself a leader? You know what leaders do? They LEAD by setting good examples and ACTION. Something we’ve yet to see you do.

“You need to take notes on Chinese billionaire Jack Ma who is ACTUALLY leading – by donating tests and millions of masks to AMERICA because you haven’t.

“Please. Be Better. So we aren’t afraid to leave our house in fear someone will verbally or physically abuse us because of your xenophobia.”

The White House previously refuted claims of racism in a statement defending Trump’s words.

It read: “Spanish Flu. West Nile Virus. Zika. Ebola. All named for places. Before the media’s fake outrage, even CNN called it ‘Chinese Coronavirus.’ Those trying to divide us must stop rooting for America to fail and give Americans real info they need to get through the crisis.”

There have been a number of reports of Asian-Americans being harassed or assaulted across the United States since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in