Entertainment
The Masked Singer’s Ken Jeong donates $50,000 to families of Atlanta spa shootings victims
Ken Jeong has donated $50,000 (£36,000) to the families of the victims of the Atlanta spa shootings.
Eight people died when a gunman opened fire in three different spas in Atlanta, Georgia this month.
A donor listed as Kendrick Jeong made five $10,000 (£7,000) donations to GoFundMe pages for the victims’ families, which will support the families of Suncha Kim, Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Yong Yue, and Xiaojie Tan.
People has confirmed that the donor is the actor.
All of the fundraisers have now exceeded their targets.
The donations come after Ken, 51, spoke out against anti-Asian violence.
He said on Late Night With Seth Meyers: ‘Enough is enough. We’re just fed up […] Anti-Asian-American crime has risen almost 150 percent in the last year, and in that same study, overall hate crime went down 7 percent. This is precisely due to weaponising terms such as “The China Virus” and “Kung Flu”.
‘Even in this particular crime, there’s debate whether this crime was racially motivated. But Asian American women are two times as likely to be assaulted in America. This was clearly, clearly racially motivated.’
He added: ‘As a guy who used to be a doctor and whose wife is still practicing medicine, I have an idea on how to solve Covid: It’s masks, vaccination, common sense, don’t be an a**hole.
‘But as a human, I don’t know how to solve racism. It takes listening, learning, loving, being tolerant.
‘In our particular case, as Asian Americans, this “Kung Flu” s**t has to stop. We need to express that loudly. And we are.’
Ken was among many stars to condemn the attacks, with the likes of John Legend, Florence Pugh, and Bella Hadid speaking out.
Actress Gemma Chan said: ‘We need to stop the dehumanisation of Asians. We need to stop the scapegoating of Asians for Covid. We need to unite against all forms of hate.’
Meanwhile, Lana Condor voiced her sadness, saying on Twitter: ‘Wake up… your Asian friends and family are deeply scared, horrified, sick to their stomachs and wildly angry.
‘Please please please check in on us, please please please stand with us. Please. Your Asian friend needs you, even if they aren’t publicly grieving on social media. x.’
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