Asian American Actress Karen Fukuhara Struck By Stranger In Racist Attack

Karen Fukuhara, known for recent superhero roles in Suicide Squad and The Boys, revealed that she was hit in the head by a stranger outside of a cafe on Wednesday. She said she is “physically fine,” and that the attacker left, “after a few seconds of staring at each other, and him yelling at me.”

She shared her statement to Instagram the day of the attack, saying “I was walking to a cafe for some coffee and a man struck me in the back of my head.” The actress described her shock writing, “It came out of nowhere. 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.”

It’s not clear where exactly the attack occurred. Fukuhara has reportedly been attending SXSW in Austin, Texas, but it’s not confirmed if she was still there.

Fukuhara added, “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 also spoke about the fear of a repeat occurrence following the attack.

“The shock of this experience has me thinking about taking self-defense classes. But why is this something we as ‘victims’ have to think about? What satisfaction are these perpetrators getting from hitting women, Asians, the ELDERLY?” Fukuhara wrote. She felt motivated to share her story, “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.”

You can read part of Fukuhara’s full statement below: