'Shang-Chi' Star Simu Liu Faces Criticism After Past Reddit Comments Resurface

By Daniel S. Levine

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings star Simu Liu appeared to respond to the resurfacing of old, offensive posts he allegedly wrote on Reddit years ago. Liu was accused of comparing pedophilia to homosexuality in the offensive posts, which went viral on Thursday. After the posts circulated, Liu responded to an April 2019 tweet he wrote about how "mentalities evolve."

"Just a reminder that I do not ever EVER advocate for anything other than positivity. Positive cultural pride, positive iterations of Asian masculinity and femininity - that means WE DON'T PUT EACH OTHER DOWN," Liu wrote in an April 2019 post. "Direct your frustration at the system that did this to ALL of us." He later wrote that, "If you dig back far enough, I'm sure you'll find a more immature version of me who gave in to anger and hate. It doesn't make me a hypocrite; it makes me a human being. Mentalities evolve. We shift and we grow. And I want us all to grow the right way." On Thursday, Liu directed fans to this post by posting a fresh response, writing, "Oh cool this is here."

He later responded to a now-deleted message from a Twitter user. "Twitter is a slanderous place sometimes, and it feels good to shut down trolls and bad faith actors who want to drag your name through the mud," the Kim's Convenience actor wrote.

Liu's tweets appear to be in reference to the controversy surrounding the offensive 2015 Reddit post that was attributed to him. In the comment, the author, a Reddit user named "nippedinthebud," starts by calling themselves a "Canadian actor." He claimed to have played a pedophile in a recent project and the experience "completely changed the way I look at pedophilia and has made me much more sympathetic to anyone who is born with those urges." The author went on to claim that "cures" for pedophilia were as ineffective as "conversion therapy" for gay people. In another post, the author appeared to suggest that pedophilia was on a "spectrum" like homosexuality, notes The Daily Mail.

The "nippedinthebud" Reddit account no longer exists. Some Twitter users wondered if the person really was Liu. Another Twitter user claimed to show a screenshot from the Kim's Convenience Reddit page, where "nippedinthebud" introduces himself as Liu. "Hey guys it's Simu aka nippedinthebud aka ultimate Reddit lurker," the post read.

Liu, 32, was born in China and raised in Canada. After several small roles, he broke through as Jung Kim on Kim's Convenience, which is available on Netflix in the U.S. He stars as the title character in Marvel's Shang-Chi, which has grossed $272.9 million worldwide. 

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