Simu Liu is back in the conversation again, this time after boosting a post begging Hollywood to cast more Asian men in romantic leads — and then dropping a blunt, unfiltered message of his own about how badly the industry has backslid on Asian representation.
If you somehow missed some of his previous discourse, Simu has spoken up about this before. He previously pushed back against an article that suggested he was getting the “bulk of Asian male roles in Hollywood,” calling it out for pitting Asian actors against each other and reinforcing the idea that representation is a zero-sum game.
He argued that there isn’t a limited quota of Asian male roles, and that framing his success as tokenism only undermines the progress Asian performers have fought for.
The moment seemed to hit a nerve with Liu after user @SelfieIgnite posted on X, urging Hollywood to “put more Asian men in romantic lead roles,” a post that quickly started gaining traction.
The thread pulled together several screenshots showing just how rare those opportunities still are — from John Cho revealing he barely receives rom-com offers even after Selfie, to Manny Jacinto saying he’s suddenly being pushed into “dad roles,” to Daniel Dae Kim noting he’s never been cast as a romantic lead in over 30 years.
In a now-deleted post, Simu Liu retweeted a thread calling out Hollywood’s refusal to cast Asian men in romantic lead roles — and he didn’t hold back. He slammed the industry for treating Asian actors as “risky,” pointing out that films like Minari, Farewell, Past Lives, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and Shang-Chi were all financial successes.
He argued that white actors can deliver $400 million in losses and still be offered major studio leads. Liu ended the post by describing the decline in representation as “f**king appalling,” saying that working against the system “most days… SUCKS.”
At the end of the day, Simu’s post makes one thing painfully clear: the fight for real, consistent Asian representation in Hollywood is nowhere near over.
What do you think about his comment and the lack of representation in the industry? Drop your thoughts down below.