Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee says she was pepper-sprayed in racist attack

• Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee says she was pepper-sprayed in a racist attack

• Lee confirmed to CNN that the incident happened in October.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that Suni Lee, an Olympic gold medalist and the first Hmong American to compete in the Olympics, said she was pepper-sprayed in a racist incident while filming “Dancing with the Stars” in Los Angeles.

Lee told PopSugar in an interview that she was waiting for a lift after a night out with a bunch of Asian-American companions.

She said a car drove by and the people in it started shouting racist slurs like “ching chong,” and telling the girls to “go back to where they came from,” according to the article.

Then, one of the passengers sprayed her arm with pepper spray before the car took off, Lee said.
Lee confirmed to CNN that the incident happened in October.

“I was so mad, but there was nothing I could do or control because they skirted off,” Lee told PopSugar.

“I didn’t do anything to them, and having the reputation, it’s so hard because I didn’t want to do anything that could get me into trouble. I just let it happen.”

Attacks against Asian Americans have skyrocketed during the pandemic. A coalition that tracks racism and discrimination against Asian Americans said there were at least 4,533 incidents reported in the first six months of this year.

More than 9,000 incidents were reported to the coalition, Stop AAPI Hate, from March 19, 2020 to June 30, 2021.