Actor Simu Liu is leaving the Canadian hit series Kim’s Convenience with guns blazing.
The actor who’s set to premier in September in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings condemned the mostly White writers room in a Facebook post this week.
“Our writer’s room lacked both East Asian and female representation, and also lacked a pipeline to introduce diverse talents,” he wrote. Aside from Ins (Â showrunner Ins Choi), there were no other Korean voices in the room. 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 is also upset that the spinoff of the show will feature the program’s only White character, Nicole Power, and none of the Asian actors.
“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. And not that they would ever ask, but I will adamantly refuse to reprise my role in any capacity,” Liu said.
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Liu countered speculation that CBC cancelled the program because he moved on to Shang-Chi.
“I love this show and everything it stood for. 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.”
He also expressed frustration at the lack of growth in the characters and the absence of any significant input from the actors about where their characters would be headed.
You can reach his entire post below.
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