Simu Liu, the star of Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings and Barbie, is absolutely fed up with Hollywood’s practices and recently took to Threads to call out the system as “deeply prejudiced.” Liu didn’t hold back, directly addressing the industry’s outdated idea that Asian actors are “risky” investments, especially when compared to their white counterparts who face no career consequences for massive flops.
As reported by Daily Dot, the conversation kicked off when a user posted screenshots of various Asian actors, including John Cho, Manny Jacinto, and Daniel Dae Kim, talking about losing out on romantic lead roles. The post strongly urged Hollywood to put more Asian men into those central roles. Liu reshared the message, adding his own scorching thoughts about the industry’s double standards.
Liu hammered home his point by listing the many recent Asian-led films that have been undeniable financial successes. He reminded everyone that movies like Minari, The Farewell, Past Lives, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Crazy Rich Asians, and his own Shang-Chi were all huge wins for the studios.
The success of Asian-led films makes the “risky” label completely nonsensical
Liu contrasted this unfair perception with the reality of white leading men in Hollywood. He pointed out the massive financial disparities, stressing that “No asian actor has ever lost a studio even close to 100 million dollars.” Yet, he observed, “a white dude will lose 200 million TWICE and roll right into the next tentpole lead.” This is awful for diversity and talent development. Liu concluded his post by stating, “We’re fighting a deeply prejudiced system, and most days it SUCKS.”
It seems like fans are just as frustrated as Liu is. His post quickly racked up over 11,000 likes and hundreds of comments. Many people agreed that Hollywood is wasting generational talents. One commenter specifically argued that “Daniel Dae Kim should be one of the biggest stars of this century” and that Manny Jacinto should be on a “Pedro Pascal-type run.”
If Hollywood continues to ignore this, it risks losing the audience completely. Another commenter pointed out that many viewers are already turning to K-Dramas and content produced in Asia, proving that the audience is “leaving in droves.” They added that studios are currently “dumber than they are greedy” for failing to capitalize on this interest.
Others agreed with Liu’s observation about the endless chances given to certain actors, with one person noting that studios will cast “Jared freakin’ Leto over and over again despite him killing huge movies.” We had an actor at least recognizing the issues with her lineup of box office failures.
This systemic issue hits close to home for Liu’s own Marvel career. Even though Shang-Chi was a success, fans are growing increasingly annoyed that a sequel has been slow to materialize. While Liu is confirmed to reprise his character in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, many Marvel fans are frustrated that so many “new” MCU characters only seem to get one solo project before being rushed into the big team-up films.
Now, who’s excited to see an Asian-led supernatural horror MCU movie?
Published: Nov 25, 2025 05:30 pm