Asuka recently spoke with ET Canada‘s Shakiel Mahjouri and talked about the recent rise in hate crimes and speech against Asians as well as her own personal experiences. When asked how she felt seeing these acts, Asuka said she doesn’t understand why people waste their time being hateful.
“I hate it! I hate it! I don’t understand. It’s a waste of time to be hateful,” she said. “Why people attack other people? We are people, right? I don’t understand. I hate it.”
Asked if she would be willing to share any personal experiences with racism, Asuka says she’s only had one issue with it and it took place in an airport at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States.
“Yes, I have only one experience with racism. It was around the time when COVID-19 started spreading. In America, I was at the airport. A woman came towards me. When she noticed me,” she explained, “she covered her mouth with her hand and ran away from me. I was shocked. It never happened before COVID-19. Oh my gosh. I didn’t understand. I was shocked.”
Asuka said that if she could share any advice with non-Asian people on how they could support their Asian friends, she would tell them it’s important to “understand and share the wonderful culture” of those people that they are supporting. During the interview, Asuka also said she wants to use her platform in WWE to share those cultures and her experiences as an Asian.
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