‘The Masked Singer’ Judge Ken Jeong Just Did Something Incredible for Atlanta Shooting Victims’ Families

The Masked Singer‘s Ken Jeong is paying it forward. According to NBC News, Jeong donated $50,000 to the families of the victims of the Atlanta shooting. He reportedly made five $10,000 donations to the families of Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Xiaojie Tan, and Yong Yue.

NBC News confirmed that there were five $10,000 donations made by Kendrick Jeong to the GoFundMe campaigns that were started by the victims’ families. The outlet has also identified Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michaels, and Daoyou Feng as victims in the attack, which took place on March 16. The man who has been accused of killing the eight individuals in the shootings, which took place at two spas in Atlanta, has been charged with eight counts of murder. The shooting came amidst a rise in hate crimes against the AAPI community (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to donating to the victims’ families, Jeong, whose parents migrated to the United States from South Korea, has also spoken out in order to call for an end to anti-Asian racism. He posted a video, which also included appearances from other Asian American actors such as Lou Diamond Phillips and Keiko Agena, “Stop the pandemic of fate.”

Jeong also appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers, during which the conversation turned towards this rise in hate crimes against the AAPI community. Host Seth Meyers said that he wanted to give the Masked Singer judge an opportunity to speak about how difficult this period has been for the AAPI community, to which Jeong said, “Just with regard to the situation in Atlanta and the shootings in Atlanta, my heart, thoughts, and prayers go out to all affected.” Jeong then gave a shoutout to Karen Chee, one of the writers on the late-night program, who wrote a moving piece about the tragedy on the day that it occurred.

“And it is just a sign that, you know, with the Asian-American community, enough is enough. We’re just fed up,” he continued. Jeong then mentioned how Chee cited a study in her piece that noted that there has been a study that stated that anti-Asian hate crimes have been up 150%. He added that there was some discussion over whether the Atlanta shootings were racially motivated, to which he said, “This was clearly, clearly racially motivated. This was clearly a hate crime.”