Yahoo News Constance Wu says Simu Liu apologised after he mocked controversial tweets
Note: The following article contains discussion of themes including suicide that some readers may find upsetting.
Constance Wu has said that Simu Liu apologised to her after he mocked her controversial tweets at an event.
The actress recently revealed that she attempted suicide following the backlash over her social media posts about the renewal of her show Fresh Off The Boat in 2019, where she expressed disappointment at the show being recommissioned.
In a new interview as part of Red Table Talk, Wu explained how she felt shunned by the Asian American community in the wake of the controversy, discussing the intensity of the backlash given Fresh Off The Boat was one of the few successful Asian American projects in entertainment at the time, with Wu being perceived by some as 'betraying' the community over the tweets.
In the new discussion, Wu recalled attending Capture Media's Unforgettable Gala – an AAPI event that celebrates Asian excellence in culture and media – a few months after her suicide attempt.
"They wanted me to come, because they wanted to celebrate the show and the kids on the show, and at that time there was so much controversy around me that I was like, 'If I go, people are just going to want to talk about the tweets'," she said.
"And I love my kids on the show so much, I want this to be a moment for them to celebrate, and also I told them, 'I don't want anybody to make fun of it, because I'm still in a very raw place about it, like I'm not ready to be mocked for it'."
Wu continued: "They didn't know I had a suicide attempt, but I expressed, 'I can't deal with that'. They promised me, they said, 'No, no, no, no. We love Constance. It'll only be warm energy and positive vibes towards her'. So I was like, 'Okay, okay, I'll go', and they sat me, like, in the front row and had all these cameras on me, and within 10 minutes, the host of the show [Liu] made a crack at me.
"I was sitting there alone, trying not to cry in a public setting, and the whole audience was like, 'Oh, shit!' They had promised they wouldn't mock me, and they did it right off the bat. It almost felt like they were setting me up for it. And it truly felt like a betrayal from the Asian American community. A couple months prior to that, I was in the emergency room."
The star went on to reveal that Shang-Chi star Liu subsequently apologised, recalling: "The host of that, Simu, he did the right thing and he apologised and it was a sincere apology."
Digital Spy has reached out to Liu's representatives for further comment.
Speaking further on how the Asian American community feels about her now, Wu admitted: "I feel like they are avoiding me.
"I feel the disapproval but rather than being blatant, the silence of how much people reached out to me before, pre-tweet versus post-tweet. And you can tell. The silence has an effect. We need to hold each other accountable, but with support."
Last month, Wu accused one of her Fresh Off The Boat co-workers of sexual harassment and intimidation in her memoir Making a Scene.
We would encourage anyone who identifies with the topics raised in this article to reach out. Organisations who can offer support include Samaritans on 116 123 (www.samaritans.org) or Mind on 0300 123 3393 (www.mind.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to visit mentalhealth.gov or the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
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