Constance Wu is opening up about the time she was mocked by Simu Liu at a gala for her controversial tweets.
The 40-year-old actress spoke about what happened in a recent appearance on Red Table Talk. She said that a few months after she nearly attempted suicide following the backlash she got from her social media posts about Fresh Off The Boat’s renewal, she was publicly mocked at the 1029 Unforgettable Gala by Simu, who was hosting the event. Constance stated:
“I have been punished and mocked. There was an event several months later… They do this gala every year for Asians and they wanted me to come ‘cause they wanted to celebrate the show and the kids on the show.”
The show was being honored with the Lexus Legacy Award at the said event. The award recognizes the Asian and Pacific Islander leaders who have fought for API presence in the arts, entertainment, and culture. Constance said that she was hesitant to attend the gale because of “so much controversy” around her then. She recalled:
“If I go, people are just going to want to talk about the tweets. I love my kids on the show so much. I want this to be a moment for them to celebrate.
Also, I told them, ‘I don’t want anybody to make fun of it, because I’m still in a very raw place about it. I’m not ready to be mocked for it.’”
She said they were unaware of her suicide attempt at the time:
“They didn’t know I had a suicide attempt, but I expressed that I can’t deal with that.
They promised me. They said, ‘No, no, no. We love Constance! It’ll only be warm energy and positive vibes towards her.’ So I was like, ‘OK. OK. I’ll go.’”
She said that when she arrived, she was seated “in the front row and had all these cameras on me,” adding:
“Within 10 minutes, the host of the show made a crack at me. I was sitting there alone, trying not to cry in a public setting. The whole audience was like, ‘Ohh, s**t!'”
Outlets reported that during Simu’s opening monologue, he “took a playful jab” at Constance “that referenced her much talked-about reaction to the ABC sitcom being renewed.”
Constance declared:
“They had promised they wouldn’t mock me, and they did it right off the bat. It almost felt like they were setting me up for it. It truly felt like a betrayal from the Asian American community. A couple months prior to that, I was in the emergency room.”
She went on to say that afterwards, Simu “did the right thing and he apologized.”
The actress added of Simu’s apology:
“It was a sincere apology.”
