'Lost' Actor Blasts Trump After Catching Coronavirus: 'I Didn't Get it From China'
Actor slams Trump during a lengthy outburst in an Instagram video
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“Lost” actor Daniel Dae Kim, who recently tested positive for the Coronaviryus, took a swipe at President Donald Trump for referring to COVID-19, as the “Chinese virus.”
During a lengthy outburst Instagram video in which he announced his positive COVID-19 test, Kim said:
“Yes, I'm Asian. And yes, I have coronavirus."
“But I did not get it from China; I got in America, in New York City.”
Kim added:
“And despite what certain political leaders want to call it, I don’t consider the place where it’s from as important as the people who are sick and dying. If I did, I would call this thing the New York virus, but that would be silly, right?”
Trump has emphasized the Chinese origins of COVID-19, and said his decision to refer to it as the “Chinese virus” was prompted after the communist regime's attempted to flip the blame on the United State's military.
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The spokesman for communist China’s Foreign Ministry, Zhao Lijian, said the deadly coronavirus 'might' have been brought to China by members of the U.S military.
Lijian falsely claimed on Twitter:
“When did patient zero begin in US? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan. Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”
According to a USA Today fact-check, the virus did originate in China:
“The consensus among researchers studying the spread of the virus pinpoints COVID-19’s likely origin to a ‘wet market,’ or live animal market, in Wuhan, China,” the report said.
“Though experts have not ruled out the possibility that the pathogen could have been brought to the market by an already infected person, there is no evidence to suggest COVID-19 originated outside the country.”
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People have been asking me why I’ve been silent in the face of the blatant acts of racism against Asian people during this outbreak. The truth is there have been so many it’s been too heartbreaking to comment on all of them.
— Daniel Dae Kim (@danieldaekim) March 15, 2020
And though we keep doing our best to demonize each other, the #coronavirus doesn’t care what race, gender, religion or sexuality we are. Ironically, it knows better than we do a lesson I wish we could all learn, once and for all: that we are all human. We are all one.
— Daniel Dae Kim (@danieldaekim) March 15, 2020
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Trump said Wednesday during a press conference:
“I have great love for all of the people from our country."
“But as you know, China tried to say, at one point — maybe they stopped now — that it was caused by American soldiers. That can’t happen. That’s not going to happen. Not as long as I’m president.”
Last week, the Chinese ambassador was summoned by the US State Department on Friday after a spokesperson with China’s foreign ministry suggested coronavirus was brought to Wuhan by the U.S. military.
Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell called in the Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai for the country's “blatant, global” disinformation on the virus.
China’s ambassador to South Africa also downplayed the country’s role in the coronavirus epidemic.
“Although the epidemic first broke out in China, it did not necessarily mean that the virus originated from China, let alone 'made in China,'" he tweeted.
