Karen Fukuhara: The Boys star 'harmed' in racially motivated assault

Actress Karen Fukuhara has revealed she "was struck in the head by a man" in an incident outside of a café.

The 30-year-old described the details on Instagram, with the hashtag "Stop Asian Hate" accompanying the post.

"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 wrote.

Karen is best known for playing Kimiko Miyashiro on the Amazon series The Boys and Katana in Suicide Squad.

She said she was now "physically fine" but that incidents like these needed to stop and "women, Asians and the elderly need your help".

'It came out of nowhere'

Karen wrote she rarely shared details about her private life online, but felt this "was important".

"I was walking to a café for some coffee and a man struck me in the back of my head. It came out of nowhere."

"We made no eye contact before, I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary."

"I thought about confronting him first but he started coming towards me and I didn't think it was worth the risk."

"After a few seconds of staring at each other, and him yelling at me, he eventually walked away."

Karen feels it's "important to raise awareness" about these types of incidents.

"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."

Rise in anti-Asian hate crime

Anti-Asian hate crimes increased more than 73% in 2020, according to FBI data.

In 2020, the United Nations issued a report that detailed "an alarming level" of racially motivated violence and other hate incidents against Asian Americans.

In May 2021, President Joe Biden signed into US law the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act, to address the rising rate of anti-Asian attacks.

Karen feels she was lucky as the man could have come back to hit her again or "could have carried a weapon".

She explains how the shock of the experience has her thinking about taking self-defence 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? They need to be held accountable."

Fellow actors have written messages, including co-stars from The Boys, in support of Karen.

Karen did not say whether she planned to file a police report, and her management has not yet responded to Newsbeat's request for further comment.

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