Naomi Osaka calls out Covid-19 ‘hate, racism and blame’ toward Asians
- Japanese tennis star brands treatment of Asian community ‘disgusting’ in social media posts
- Jeremy Lin took issue with Donald Trump for ‘empowering racism’ on Twitter last year
Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka has taken aim at the “hate, racism and blame” for Covid-19 towards the Asian community, calling it “disgusting”.
Osaka, who is due to start the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday, called out the behaviour she has seen in a post on her Twitter account on Sunday.
“The amount of hate, racism, and blame for COVID towards the Asian community is disgusting,” she wrote, saying that she had stumbled across it on her Instagram account.
“The fact that this topic is not very widely covered makes me concerned. I only found videos and information because I was scrolling through my IG feed and by some algorithm it appeared.”
In a follow up tweet the 23-year-old, whose mother is Japanese and father is Haitian, called out racism toward Asians in general.
“And while I’m here- saying “Ching Chong” and “shrimp fried rice” when talking about/to a Asian person isn’t cool. You aren’t funny, it’s not a joke and you’re beyond pathetic.”
Naomi Osaka and Lewis Hamilton vow to carry on fight for social justice
Osaka has previously spoken about social causes close to her heart, wearing masks with the names of African Americans who had died at the hands of the US police or racist violence on her way to winning the US Open last year.
She is not the only athlete to point out anti-Asian discrimination since the Covid-19 pandemic began.
“I wish you would powerfully support the vulnerable people that will suffer due to our mismanagement of this virus, including those that will be affected by the racism you’re empowering,” Lin replied to a tweet by Trump.
“Can you honestly tell me there is ZERO anti-Chinese sentiment in all his characterisations of the virus? Can you honestly tell me Asians aren‘t being unfairly physically attacked today in the US?” he wrote in another tweet.
