SHANG-CHI Star Simu Liu Slams ‘Fucking Terrible’ Asian Representation in Hollywood: ‘Studios Think We’re Risky’

Chinese Canadian Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Rings Star Simu Liu has criticized Hollywood for what he calls “backsliding” on Asian representation,

The actor, who has never hesitated to express himself on social networks, declared Topics to call out the double standard that he says exists in the film industry, which allows white actors to “fail upward” by continuing to land highly sought-after roles despite their films losing money for the studio.

“Put Asians in literally anything right now,” Liu said in response to another post calling on Hollywood to cast more Asian male actors to play romantic leads in films.. “The level of regression in our on-screen representation is appalling. The studios think we’re taking risks.”

Despite the perceived risk, Liu mentioned several films featuring Asian protagonists that proved to be huge box office hits, including Minari, Farewell, Past Lives, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Crazy Rich Asians and, of course, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

“Everyone is a financial success” he added. “No Asian actor has ever lost a studio, even close to $100 million, but a white dude will lose 200 million TWICE and go straight to number one. We’re fighting a deeply biased system. And most of the time, it sucks.”

Liu is far from the first actor to raise these concerns, and it’s hard to dispute the impression that studios are much less concerned about diversity in their films these days.

Shang-Chi will appear in Avengers: Apocalypsebut a recent report claimed that Liu was initially going to play a major role in The Kang Dynasty before the redesign of the project.

According to Reverse, “In the original plan for Avengers 5, then called Kang Dynasty, Shang-Chi would have been one of the main protagonists of the film.”

Marvel was forced to make big changes to the story following the assault conviction of Kang actor Jonathan Majors, and we learned at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con that the film was now titled . Avengers: Apocalypsewith Tony Stark actor Robert Downey Jr. set to make his return to the MCU as Victor Von Doom.

Shang-Chi is still expected to be a pretty important part of the story, but it seems like his role has been significantly reduced.

What do you think of Liu’s comments? Be sure to let us know below.

Avengers: Apocalypse And Avengers: Secret Wars have recently experienced significant delays, with doomsday is now scheduled to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.

Both films will be directed by the Russo brothers, who are also returning to the MCU after directing Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War And Avengers: Endgame.