News Heated Rivalry Hudson Williams Marvel

Simu Liu defends Hudson Williams for swastika pics as his ‘homophobic’ comments resurface

He experienced a similar 'hate campaign' five years ago

Oreoluwa Adeyoola
11th June 2026, 16:12
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Marvel actor Simu Liu defends Hudson Williams amidst “hate camping” after his “homophobia” scandal in 2021.

Since last weekend, Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams has been getting criticised for his old pictures of him as a teenager. In multiple of these images, he appears to have a swastika drawn on his forehead. Although the actor himself hasn’t responded to this controversy,  sources close to him told TMZ that Hudson wasn’t aware of what was on his face and hadn’t drawn it himself.

Simu Liu defended Hudson Williams in a Threads post

Asian American actor Simu Liu came to his defence in a Threads post shared yesterday, labelling the backlash as a “hate campaign”.

“So I have this very specific trauma attached to people on the internet fabricating things about me and twisting things into a massive hate campaign when I first broke out,” he said.

“I began to recognise patterns whenever people of colour specifically had a moment of visibility. It happened like clockwork, and I see it happening now. The internet is insane. Bad actors are everywhere. If you’re here, be careful. Be smart.”

The Barbie actor also criticised Buzzfeed for reporting on the news, accusing them of picking on Hudson and other people of colour for “nothing”.

“For an organisation that has become synonymous with clickbait to never grow, never evolve, never have a moment of self-awareness, and just carry on publishing vile sensationalist bullshit like this is just sad,” he replied to their Threads post sharing the article. “Stop picking on people of colour for absolutely nothing. No wonder your IPO failed so miserably. You’re on par with TMZ at this point”

He had his own controversy in 2021 after a Reddit account allegedly tied to him was exposed

Simu Liu faced a massive wave of backlash after a Reddit account allegedly linked to him was exposed. One particularly controversial post compared pedophilia and homosexuality, saying the two are “no different” from a “biological standpoint”.

via Marvel Studios

“From a biological standpoint, it’s no different than being gay – a small mutation in the genome that defines our sexual preferences. Depending on what area of the world you were born and what time, it also may have been a perfectly acceptable thing to act on those urges.”

At the time, Simu Liu highlighted an old tweet he had shared in 2018, replying, “Oh cool, this is here.”

The tweet said: “Just a reminder that I do not ever EVER advocate for anything other than positivity. Positive cultural pride, positive iterations of Asian masculinity and femininity – that means WE DON’T PUT EACH OTHER DOWN. Direct your frustration at the system that did this to ALL of us.”

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Featured image via George Pimentel/Shutterstock and John Salangsang/Shutterstock