George Takei to Twitter: Report Trump for ‘Stoking Racism’ over Coronavirus

Actor George Takei has asked his 2.9 million followers on Twitter to report President Donald Trump to the platform’s authorities for “stoking racism” after the president correctly referred to the coronavirus pandemic as originating in China.

Takei, who is one of Hollywood’s many anti-Trump fanatics, made the plea after Trump referred to the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus” when making a pledge to protect industries suffering the severe economic consequences of its spread.

“The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. We will be stronger than ever before!”

The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. We will be stronger than ever before!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 16, 2020

“Do me a favor and report this tweet. Trump is stoking racism,” responded Takei. “[Jack Dorsey] may not do anything, but people should let Twitter know it’s not acceptable.”

Do me a favor and report this tweet. Trump is stoking racism. @jack may not do anything, but people should let @Twitter know it’s not acceptable. https://t.co/ongaXpn4od

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) March 17, 2020

As noted by Breitbart, the terms “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus” were recently declared racist by those on the progressive left, despite the fact that journalists for CNN and even some Asian media had been using the same phrases for weeks.

Over the years, many novel diseases and viruses have taken on the name of the place they originated. For example. the Ebola virus was named after a river in the Congo close to where an outbreak began, Lyme disease was after a Connecticut town experienced an outbreak in 1975, and the Zika virus was named after a forest in Uganda where scientists discovered it.

Takei, however, has long sought to promote the idea that he is himself a victim of racism as an Asian American. In 2016, he even went so far as to write to the Academy Awards to complain about a joke from Chris Rock that Asian children aspired to be accountants and an insinuation by actor Sacha Baron Cohen that Asian men were not well-endowed.

Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com.