Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Olivia Munn condemns ‘cowardly and unconscionable’ hate crime after virtual event targeted by racist trolls

Event was targeted by a ‘Zoom-bombing of horrific, violent, racially charged images and audio’

Louis Chilton
Wednesday 26 January 2022 11:34 EST
Olivia Munn speaks to The View panel about sexual assault accusations against Donald Trump

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Olivia Munn has spoken out after a virtual meeting of Asian-American creators was subject to a “cowardly and unconscionable” barrage of racist images.

The meeting, which involved Munn and a number of other high-profile Asian-American industry creators, fell victim to “Zoom-bombing” – a term used to describe an unwanted intrusion of outsiders into a group video chat.

On Instagram, the Newsroom star condemned the perpetrators.

“Today while hosting a gathering of AAPI [Asian-American and Pacific Islanders] women and allies in a conversation about how to stop anti-Asian hate, we were targeted by a Zoom bombing of horrific, violent, racially charged images and audio,” wrote Munn.

“We were communing to celebrate, elevate and protect the AAPI community and we were subjected to a hate crime in real time,” she continued. “It was a cowardly and unconscionable act.”

In its own statement shared to social media, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum wrote that the incident had been reported to the FBI.

“Today, while hosting a gathering of AAPI women in a conversation about how to stop anti-Asian hate, we were targeted by a zoom bombing of horrific violence and vulgar, racially-charged content with the intent to invoke fear in our community,” wrote the organisation on Monday (24 January).

“Together, we were made victims of hate as we were having a real-time conversation about fighting against racism.

“We started our event with beautifully-spirited and powerful members of the AAPI community talking about our experiences and using our voices, and we will continue,” they added. “The conversation WILL go on.”

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in