‘The Boys’ Actor Karen Fukuhara Says She Was Target Of Hate Crime

Karen Fukuhara, who stars in Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys and David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, says she was struck by an unknown assailant outside a cafe in what the actor describes as an anti-Asian hate crime. “This sh*t needs to stop,” Fukuhara wrote in an Instagram post describing the attack. “Us women, Asians and the elderly need your help.”

Although she did not specify the location of the incident, Fukuhara wrote that she “was walking to a cafe for some coffee and a man struck me in the back of my head.”

“It came out of nowhere,” she wrote. “We made no eye contact before, I wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary. 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).”

Fukuhara used the hashtag “Stop Asian Hate” in her post, and asked, “What satisfaction are these perpetrators getting from hitting women, Asians, the ELDERLY? They need to be held accountable. What can we do a a community to prevent these horrible crimes?”

The message was posted on the same day that an elderly Broadway singing coach, Barbara Maier Gustern, died from brain injuries after being shoved to the ground by a stranger outside of her Manhattan apartment. Last month, an Asian-American dancer en route to a first-performance celebration at New York’s Public Theater was attacked in what theater officials described as the latest “disgusting and heartbreaking” incident “in a long history of violence against Asian Americans.”

Fukuhara, who said she was “physically fine” after the attack, wrote that although she rarely shares information about her private life, she felt the Wednesday attack was important to disclose. “I write this,” she said, “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. I felt it was important to raise awareness.”

“This is the first time I’ve been harmed physically, although racial slurs and hurtful actions have been directed to me in the past,” she wrote.

Her Instagram message received immediate support from her co-stars and colleagues. “F this person!! Hope you’re ok this is awful,” wrote Chace Crawford, with another The Boys cast member Jack Quaid writing, “Karen thank you for sharing your experience. I’m sorry that happened to you. Love you. Here if you need anything.” Wrote Laz Alonso, “This pisses me off. Wish I was there.”