Donald Trump Blasted by 'To All the Boys' Star Lana Condor Over 'Chinese Virus' Comments

Actress Lana Condor is calling out President Donald Trump for his continued use of the name [...]

By Anna Rumer

Actress Lana Condor is calling out President Donald Trump for his continued use of the name "Chinese Virus" to refer to the coronavirus (COVID-19), despite widespread condemnation of the term as racist and xenophobic. The To All the Boys I've Loved Before star, who was born in Vietnam, took to Twitter Wednesday to share her thoughts on the matter along with a note to Trump himself.

"Be better. To wake up to your chaos is truly a nightmare. Please. Be better," she wrote in the caption of the note. "To my followers- be safe. I love you," before continuing to her message to the president. "You have no idea the ramifications your racist words & actions have on the Asian American community," Condor opened her message to Trump. "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 Director of The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield agreed during his House testimony Tuesday morning that it was "absolutely wrong and inappropriate" to call the coronavirus the "Chinese coronavirus," noting when asked that the virus is also widespread in South Korea, Iran and Italy.

Mike Ryan, head of the WHO's health emergency programs, had a similar sentiment when speaking to a reporter from the South China Morning Post at a WHO press conference on Wednesday.

"I think we've been very clear right since the beginning of this event that viruses know no borders and they don't care [about] your ethnicity, the color of your skin, how much money you have in the bank," Ryan said.

"It's really important that we are careful in the language we use lest it lead to profiling of individuals associated with the virus," he said. "This is just something we need to all avoid. It's easy in situations to summarize or to make comments that are not intended to do that but ultimately end up having that outcome. I'm sure anyone would regret profiling a virus along ethnic lines. That's not something anybody would want."

Photo credit: Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic/Getty

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