Olivia Munn Speaks Out Against Anti-Asian Assaults Following Violent Attack on Friend: ‘They’re Just Asking to Simply Not Die‘

Leia IdlibyFeb 26th, 2021, 4:17 pm
 

Oliva Munn sat down with the hosts of The View on Friday to speak out against the recent surge in anti-Asian violence, detailing a recent assault on her friend’s mother before encouraging viewers to use social media to combat hate.

Introducing the X-Men: Apocalypse star, Joy Behar noted that there has been an increase in ant-Asian assaults ever since the outbreak of Covid-19, which Donald Trump regularly referred to as the “Chinese virus.”

“One such attack personally affected the life of actress Olivia Munn,” Behar continued, adding that Munn will later explain to viewers how they can use their social media presence to help.

Munn then detailed a recent assault on her friend’s mother — The View airing footage of the attack as she spoke.

“She was shoved so viciously that she was hurled horizontally in the air. Her feet still flailing. She hits a metal newspaper stand box, and goes unconscious. Massive gash in her head, and thankfully there was a bystander that saw what happened, followed the guy, and got pictures of him,” she added. “Because we had such good pictures, we were able to put that out into social media and the NYPD was then able find an arrest him.”

Munn had posted the pictures of the attacker on her Instagram page, promising to her fans that, “We’re gonna find this guy.”

Munn also posted to Twitter last week to reveal that the NYPD has found and arrested the attacker, writing, “This is him attacking my friend’s mom who is a petite 5-foot-3 Chinese woman” alongside a video of the assault.

Meghan McCain later asked Munn how she felt the day of the attacker’s arrest, prompting the actor to reveal “it was a very emotional morning.

“For so long, the Asian community, my community, we have not really felt seen,” Munn added. “That the things that are happening to us aren’t important to anybody else, and that we just kind of have to take it on the chin and keep going. So the fact that, you know, I asked people to help and they did, and it came to this conclusion, was just a really emotional moment for me because it just felt that — it felt like my people were seen a little bit more that day.”

Sunny Hostin then questioned why the attack is not being labeled as a hate crime — Munn explaining that racist rhetoric often needs to be said for a assault to be specifically labeled as a hate crime.

Munn later blamed the association between China and the coronavirus for the surge in assaults, noting, “You know, scientist discourage people from associating any virus with a country or place.”

“They encourage world leaders to use the scientific name, and I do believe that this astronomical rise in hate crimes against Asians is a direct cause of the refusal to do that,” she added in a thinly veiled swipe at Donald Trump. 

She went on to explain that culturally, past generations of Asian people immigrating to America were “conditioned not to cause any waves.”

“They’re not asking to thrive. They’re not asking to be treated equally. They’re just asking to simply not die, and that’s not enough. That’s not ok,” Munn added, before explaining that younger generations have a duty to “show our parents, to show our grandparents that they paved every single road for us.

“Now we have to take them back to the beginning of that road and walk them down it and show them how safe it can be, and show them that we are here, and that we belong here and that we are Americans,” she added. “We can be safe in our country, and so that’s what we are trying to do right now by amplifying this.”

Munn has regularly spoken out against anti-Asian hate crimes on her Instagram page, one post stating, “Over the past few days I’ve found myself at a loss for words at the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes. The racist, verbal and physical assaults have left my community fearful to step outside.”

Watch above, via ABC.

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