The actress revealed this is the first time she's been harmed physically, although racial slurs have been directed at her in the past.
Karen Fukuhara is opening up about being the victim of a hate crime after she said she was randomly attacked.
The actress took to Instagram on Wednesday and revealed in a lengthy post that, while walking to a cafe to grab coffee, a man struck her in the back of her head. She said the attack came out of nowhere, and that he struck her so hard her hat flew off.
"We made no eye contact before, I wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary," said the actress who did not disclose the location of the alleged incident. "It came to my surprise and my hat flew off. By the time I looked back, he was a few feet away from me (he must have kept walking after hitting me). I thought about confronting him first but he started coming towards me and I didn’t think it was worth the risk. After a few seconds of staring at each other, and him yelling at me, he eventually walked away."
Fukuhara, best known for her role on the Prime Video series The Boys and as Katana in Suicide Squad, said it was the first time she had been harmed physically, "although racial slurs and harmful actions have been directed to me in the past." The actress implored that hate crimes against Asians and others needs to stop.
"I write this, because I’ve had conversations with multi-racial friends of mine that had no idea these hate crimes happen to everyday, regular people — people that they share meals with," she said. "I felt it was important to raise awareness."
Despite the scary experience, Fukuhara added she was lucky that the incident didn't escalate.
"Ultimately I know I got lucky," she said. "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? What satisfaction are these perpetrators getting from hitting women, Asians, the ELDERLY? They need to be held accountable. What can we do as a community to prevent these horrible crimes?"
The Boys co-stars Chace Crawford and Jack Quaid chimed in in the comments section. Crawford wrote, "F this person!! Hope you're ok this is awful," while Quaid wrote, "Karen thank you for sharing your experience. I'm sorry that happened to you. Love you. Here if you need anything."
Olivia Munn also commented with, "I'm so grateful you're safe," along with three red heart emojis. Nearly two months ago, Munn condemned an anti-Asian hate attack directed at her and other participants taking part in a webinar to discus that exact topic. She called the attack "cowardly" and "unconscionable."
Munn had also shared an impassioned message condemning the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes in the U.S., which skyrocketed at the start of the coronavirus outbreak and later fanned by bigoted rhetoric at the highest places in public office.
Sandra Oh also made a similar plea during a rally in Pittsburgh nearly a year ago.
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