Chloe Bennet calls Gigi Hadid ‘ignorant’ on Instagram for racist Asian Buddha joke

Resonate writer Sarina Wang called her actions “extremely racist” saying, “making fun of “chinky eyes” has real-world repercussions. As an individual who has grown up with monolids, I have faced numerous comments asking “why I was always squinting” or “if I could open my eyes”. ” Fans took to Twitter to express their outrage, branding Hadid’s actions as racist.

Gigi’s first reaction to seeing the cookie was to mock it’s eyes as a “joke,” if that isn’t racist then idk what to tell you lmao.

— hana (@okayaimh) February 6, 2017

“gigi was joking so its not offensive”
but what was there to joke about? the fact that she was joking is the reason why its offensive dummy

— z (@zainzayns) February 5, 2017

Gigi literally mocked that buddha cookie by squinting her eyes to be “asian” Thats now funny and its disrespectful

— 菊花 (@zelocream) February 5, 2017

One angry fan included Agents of Shield’s Chloe Bennet. In an Instagram post, Bennet wrote that people would make fun of her for “being Chinese” and for “having Asian eyes”, which made her “feel horrible”.

“Like, just BEING ME was a joke,” added Bennet, before directing her frustration towards Hadid. “It hurts my heart to see someone like you, a beautiful young woman with so much influence, act in this inconsiderate way. This does not make you a bad person or racist, however, it does make you ignorant to the pain that your actions can cause others.”

Dear Gigi Hadid, As a kid, (and frankly as an adult) people would make fun of me for being Chinese. For having “Asian eyes”. I would laugh it off because it was always a “joke”, and if I didn’t I was being “too sensitive”. But in reality it made me feel horrible. Like, just BEING ME was a joke that was not meant to be taken seriously. I was embarrassed of who I was. I dyed my hair blonde to make myself look less Asian just so I could feel “worthy” of the people who made me feel less than. Fortunately, now I know that none of this is true. That my value does not come from how I LOOK, but from my CHARACTER. From how I treat others. It hurts my heart to see someone like you, a beautiful young woman with so much influence, act in this inconsiderate way. This does not make you a bad person or racist, however, it does make you ignorant to the pain that your actions can cause others. No matter how unintentional those actions are. And, even if it was just “a joke”. So…to the young Asian men and women who are used to laughing off others ignorance, even though deep down you are hurting. I HEAR YOU. You are badass. You are awesome. Who you are is not “funny”. YOU determine your self worth. Be proud of who you are. –Also, I’m also sorry for how many run on sentences are in this letter. Love, Chloe P.S. While I’m at it, Asian men are super sexy. So with all due respect fuck you Steve Harvey.

A photo posted by Chloe Bennet (@chloebennet) on Feb 8, 2017 at 3:50pm PST