Jeannie Mai has slammed some particularly spiteful trolls who are accusing her of having coronavirus because of her ethnic background.
In an appearance on The Real, the television personality said that people were commenting on fashion week photos of her and Jeezy, saying things like, “‘Don’t be catching that corona, Jeezy,’ or ‘She got that corona that latched him in,’” Mai said on Wednesday. “And that’s so hurtful because there are people that are actually dying from this.”
“I also heard that there are schools that are considering to quarantine Asian kids because they just want to keep it safe,” she added. “I just want to say, we know that misinformation coupled with fear leads to xenophobia, right? Xenophobia is a deep-rooted fear against foreigners. So, we just got to do better and know that when it comes to yourself, educate yourself so that you don’t give life to fear.”
Mai is a California native, whose mother is Vietnamese and father is Chinese. She and Jeezy began dating in September 2019 after she split from her husband Freddy Harteis. The couple had been married for 10 years, with their divorce being finalized in December 2018.
The Real co-host Loni Love showed her support for Mai. “If you are Asian and you’re feeling something… you should actually talk about it and put out the stories,” she said. “Just like on black Twitter, we share our stories of racism—you guys need to do that too.”
Last month, the World Health Organization officially declared coronavirus to be a global emergency. As of Feb. 7, there were over 31,000 confirmed cases of the disease across the world. The death toll has also grown to 638, with all but two deaths occurring in mainland China.
