Shang-Chi Actor Simu Liu Shares Lengthy Post Denouncing Canadian Sitcom Kim’s Convenience’s “Overwhelmingly White” Producers
Kim’s Convenience actor Simu Liu, who also stars in Disney and Marvel’s upcoming Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, has recently made some comments about his experience working on the popular sitcom.
“I’m feeling a host of emotions right now. There’s been a lot of talk and speculation about what happened, and I want to do my best to give accurate information,” wrote the actor in a lengthy post shared to Facebook.
He then went on to claim that the show the show was not cancelled traditionally due to low ratings, but the producers who own the show IP decided to end the show.
Liu explained, “The show can’t be ‘saved’. It was not ‘cancelled’ in a traditional manner, i.e. by a network after poor ratings. Our producers (who also own the Kim’s Convenience IP) are the ones who chose not to continue. Neither CBC nor Netflix own the rights to Kim’s Convenience, they merely license it.”
From there he took issue with the fact that a spin-off show is being created for Nicole Power’s character Shannon Ross.
“It’s been difficult for me. I love and am proud of Nicole, and I want the show to succeed for her… but I remain resentful of all of the circumstances that led to the one non-Asian character getting her own show,” Liu expressed.
For good measure, Liu then reveals that he will not reprise his role if asked, stating “And not that they would ever ask, but I will adamantly refuse to reprise my role in any capacity.”
While he claims he will not reprise his role, in the next sentence he did note he wanted to be part of the sixth season of the show, which won’t be happening now due to the show’s cancellation.
“I wanted to be a part of the sixth season. I’ve heard a lot of speculation surrounding myself – specifically, about how getting a Marvel role meant I was suddenly too “Hollywood” for Canadian TV. This could not be further from the truth. I love this show and everything it stood for,” he explained.
“I saw firsthand how profoundly it impacted families and brought people together. It’s truly SO RARE for a show today to have such an impact on people, and I wanted very badly to make the schedules work,” Liu elaborated.
From there Liu claims he became frustrated with not only the way his character was being treated in the show, but how the producers were treating him as a person. He specifically took issue with the producers describing them as “overwhelmingly white.”
“I WAS, however, growing increasingly frustrated with the way my character was being portrayed and, somewhat related, was also increasingly frustrated with the way I was being treated,” he stated.
Liu then stated, “I think this is a natural part of a collaborative undertaking like making a TV show; everyone is going to have different ideas on where each character ought to go, what stories ought to be told.”
“But it was always my understanding that the lead actors were the stewards of character, and would grow to have more creative insight as the show went on,” explained the actor in regards to how the characters were being represented on the show.
He continued, “This was not the case on our show, which was doubly confusing because our producers were overwhelmingly white and we were a cast of Asian Canadians who had a plethora of lived experiences to draw from and offer to writers.”
“But we were often told of the next seasons’ plans mere days before we were set to start shooting… there was deliberately not a lot of leeway given to us,” he wrote.
Source: Kim’s Convenience, Canadian Broadcasting CorporationAs for his character, he explained, “Imagine my disappointment year after year knowing that Jung was just stuck at Handy and in absolutely no hurry to improve himself in any way.”
“More importantly, the characters never seemed to grow. I can appreciate that the show is still a hit and is enjoyed by many people… but I remain fixated on the missed opportunities to show Asian characters with real depth and the ability to grow and evolve,” he elaborated.
What’s more, the actor also claims that he was paid “an absolute horsepoop” for his role in the popular Canadian sitcom in comparison to other Canadian shows like Schitt’s Creek.
“For how successful the show actually became, we were paid an absolute horsepoop rate. The whole process has really opened my eyes to the relationship between those with power and those without,” added Liu.
“In the beginning, we were no-name actors who had ZERO leverage. So of course we were going to take anything we could,” he stated.
He then notes he and the cast did receive a pay increase after the first season, “After one season, after the show debuted to sky-high ratings, we received a little bump-up that also extended the duration of our contracts by two years.”
However, he claims this was peanuts compared to the actors of Schitt’s Creek, “Compared to shows like Schitt’s Creek, who had ‘brand-name talent’ with American agents, but whose ratings were not as high as ours, we were making NOTHING.”
Liu continued, “Basically we were locked in for the foreseeable future at a super-low rate… an absolute DREAM if you are a producer.”
Liu explains that he and his co-stars didn’t make any demands because they were “told to be grateful to even be there.”
“But we also never banded together and demanded more — probably because we were told to be grateful to even be there, and because we were so scared to rock the boat,” he explained.
The Shang-Chi actor adds, “Maybe also because we were too busy infighting to understand that we were deliberately being pitted against each other.”
“Meanwhile, we had to become the de facto mouthpieces for the show (our showrunners were EPICALLY reclusive), working tirelessly to promote it while never truly feeling like we had a seat at its table,” Liu further explained.
Liu went on even further, explaining how the show’s writer’s room lacked representation, which was also frustrating for him and his Asian co-stars. What’s more, the actor reveals that he tried to provide written material to the writers but this was turned down.
“Our writer’s room lacked both East Asian and female representation, and also lacked a pipeline to introduce diverse talents,” explained the actor. “Aside from Ins [Choi], there were no other Korean voices in the room.”
He continued, “And personally I do not think he did enough to be a champion for those voices (including ours). When he left (without so much as a goodbye note to the cast), he left no protege, no padawan learner, no Korean talent that could have replaced him.”
Liu explained that he tried his best to be the replacement that, according to him, the show desperately needed — perhaps failing to see that this is not the role an actor plays in a TV show’s production — only to find out that he wasn’t the only actor who tried to do this.
“I tried so hard to be that person; I sent him spec scripts I was working on, early cuts of short films I had produced…,” the actor revealed.
“I voiced my interest in shadowing a director or writer’s room… my prior experience had taught me that if I just put myself out there enough, people would be naturally inclined to help. And boy was I wrong here,” Liu continued.
He then adds, “I wasn’t the only one who tried. Many of us in the cast were trained screenwriters with thoughts and ideas that only grew more seasoned with time. But those doors were never opened to us in any meaningful way.”
Liu’s complaints are as valid as can be — if that is, of course, what his experience was actually like — but he should have never expected the show’s writers to embrace his ideas; he’s an actor playing a role, and him wanting to become an advisor of sorts borderlines self-entitlement.
Self-entitlement is to be expected, however, from a woke Hollywood celebrity like Liu, who has openly admitted that he is in favour of abolishing the police — although he doesn’t seem to understand what the word “abolish” actually means.
“Welcome cynics and conservative trolls! Glad you’re dropping by. While you’re here, please take a gander as to what abolishing the police actually looks like,” the actor wrote on Twitter in June of last year.
He then added “Spoiler Alert: it doesn’t mean absolutely no police anymore!”
As defined by Oxford English Dictionary, the word “abolish” literally means “to officially end a law, a system or an institution.”
Yes, Mr. Liu, that’s exactly what it means.
Similarly, Liu also believes that the current structure of the United States is actually based on “systemic racism.”
“Super proud of my parents for watching the YouTube video I sent about systemic racism and also proactively educating themselves!” read a tweet shared by Liu last year.
Related: Shang-Chi Actor Simu Liu Advocates Dismantling Police, Wants Police Disciplined For Smirks
This is also one of the reasons why the Shang-Chi actor also supports the controversial Black Lives Matter movement and, well, wants to “abolish” the police; again, not realising that what he wants may actually be to reform the institution.
Without undermining his experience whilst working in Kim’s Convenience, Simu Liu won’t have to worry about being paid “an absolute horsepoop” now that he’s playing the titular character in Disney and Marvel Studios’ upcoming, and predominantly Asian Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings film.
Woke Hollywood celebrities like Simu Liu are being handed pretty much everything in a silver platter, especially those who constantly use their influence to promote their left-leaning politics; no matter the cause they seemingly seem to be supporting.
Let’s not forget the time in which Simu Liu faced backlash after a nearly decade old tweet of him making fun of Nicki Minaj resurfaced, in which the actor wrote “I thought I was at a nicki minaj concert for 20 minutes before I realized I was just watching a homeless man yell at a pigeon….”
As it was to be expected, the Shang-Chi actor was very quick to delete the tweet, stating that “Well this was a highly dumb tweet. Looks like a dumb 23 year old trying to sound clever.”
Related: Shang-Chi Actor Simu Liu Deletes Tweet Making Fun Of Nicki Minaj
Simu Liu then proceeded to share a follow-up tweet in which he simply wrote “Deleting!” and called it quits. All of this, of course, after facing backlash from the same cancel culture mob whose ideas the actor himself, as well as other like-minded individuals who pander to the left, tend to entertain.
What do you make of Simu Liu’s comments on Kim’s Convenience’s “overwhelmingly white” producers? Is the actor only playing the victim card now that the popular Canadian sitcom is over and he found himself a better gig at Disney and Marvel Studios?
Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below or on social media.