'The Boys' Actress Karen Fukuhara Reveals She Was the Target of Hate Crime
The Boys star Karen Fukuhara was the target of a hate crime, she wrote on Instagram Wednesday. Fukuhara said she was "struck in the head" by a man outside a cafe. She did not say where the incident happened, but she shared the story to highlight the hate crimes Asian-Americans face daily.
"I rarely share about my private life, but something happened today that I thought was important," Fukuhara wrote. A man "came out of nowhere" and hit her on the back of her head while she walked to get coffee. They made no eye contact, and Fukuhara said she was not "doing anything out of the ordinary" during the incident. When Fukuhara turned around, the man was a few feet away from her.
"I thought about confronting him first, but he started coming towards me, and I didn't think it was worth the risk," Fukuhara wrote. "After a few seconds of staring at each other and him yelling at me, he eventually walked away." This was the first time Fukuhara was physically attacked, although she noted that "racial slurs and harmful actions have been directed" towards her in the past.
The Suicide Squad star chose to share this story because she had conversations with multi-racial friends who were unaware that hate crimes happen to "everyday, regular people – people that they share meals with." She felt it was "important to raise awareness."
"Ultimately, I know I got lucky," Fukuhara wrote. "He could have come back to hit me again. He could have carried a weapon. The shock of this experience has me thinking about taking self-defense classes. But why is this something we as 'victims' have to think about?"
In the end, Fukuhara wondered what "satisfaction" people could get from hitting women, Asians, and the elderly. "They need to be held accountable," she concluded. "What can we do as a community to prevent these horrible crimes?" Fukuhara included the hashtag "Stop Asian Hate" in her post's caption.
A representative for Fukuhara told The Hollywood Reporter the incident occurred in Los Angeles. The actress did not say if she planned to file a police report. Many of her The Boys co-stars responded, including Jack Quaid, who wrote, "Karen, thank you for sharing your experience. I'm sorry that happened to you. Love you. Here if you need anything."
There has been a rise in reported hate crimes against Asians in the U.S. since the coronavirus pandemic began. There have been almost 11,000 hate crimes targeting people of Asian and Pacific Island descent across the country since March 19, 2020, according to Stop AAPI Hate. On Friday, a 67-year-old woman was hit in the head 125 times because she was Asian, officials in Yonkers, New York told the New York Times.
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