Do we like Simu Liu?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Years of speaking up for Asian communities and real money given away, against one contested 2021 allegation that was never settled either way.
Liu is the Canadian actor who went from Kim's Convenience to being Marvel's first Asian lead as Shang-Chi. He came up speaking loudly about Asian representation in Hollywood, and that's the lens for most of what he says in public.
Back in 2020 he took on Andrew Yang over an op-ed about the coronavirus and Asian Americans. He called it a slap in the face and argued the burden of proving they belong shouldn't sit on Asian Americans. That's a bloke using his platform for his community, at some risk to his own career.
The mark against him dates to September 2021, when years-old Reddit comments from an account tied to him surfaced. They allegedly described paedophilia as no different to being gay from a biological standpoint, and The Advocate also reported alleged other remarks from the account. Liu replied only that Twitter is a slanderous place sometimes and offered no apology. Some commenters said the posts were taken out of context or were sarcastic, and nothing has settled it either way.
On the harm check, that's the one real question mark, and it's an allegation about old posts, not something he's said lately. Searching turned up nothing from his recent words or work pushing harm against LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or the planet. I also found no sign of him working repeatedly with people who do. It's a close enough call that you may want to read the allegation yourself.
The June 2026 stoush is more current. Liu defended Hudson Williams, writing that “Bad actors are everywhere. If you're here, be careful. Be smart.” People close to Williams told outlets he didn't know about the markings, but that is their account and it hasn't been independently verified. Where you land depends on whether you read Liu's post as standing up against a pile-on or as jumping in before the facts were in.
The good stuff is real. At the 2022 BoxLunch Gala he matched a $100,000 donation to Feeding America, which was expected to cover about two million meals. He talked about his family shopping the discount aisle, so it didn't look like a photo-op.