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Donald Trump Sued For $22million After Dubbing Coronavirus ‘China Flu’

Donald Trump has dubbed the coronavirus 'China flu'.
Credit: HBO via YouTube

Donald Trump, who is launching his own social media app after being banned from Facebook and Twitter, has been sued for roughly $22million after dubbing the coronavirus ‘China flu’. 

The former president has been accused of fuelling anti-Asian hate crimes in the US by the Chinese American Civil Rights Coalition (CACRC). 

He also referred to it as the ‘Wuhan virus’ and ‘Kung Flu’.

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According to The Independent, when Trump was confronted about his comments in March of last year, he stated: “It’s not racist at all. It comes from China. I want to be accurate.”

In the lawsuit, it’s also argued that the Republican should never have used the terms because it isn’t entirely clear where the virus originated from. 

A recent study based on police statistics revealed that, across major US cities, there’s been nearly a 150% rise in reports of Anti-Asian hate crimes since the pandemic began.

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Donald Trump
Donald Trump has referred to the coronavirus as the ‘China flu’. Credit: 60 Minutes/CBS via YouTube

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has requested that people not ‘attach locations or ethnicity to the disease,’ as it could ‘fuel stigmatising attitudes’. 

This is not a ‘Wuhan virus,’ ‘Chinese virus’ or ‘Asian virus’. The official name for the disease was deliberately chosen to avoid stigmatisation,” the public health organisation commented. 

Trump recently faced a backlash for his attitude towards the Atlanta mass shootings which occurred last month. 

A 21-year-old man allegedly killed eight people, many of whom were women of Asian descent.

Speaking to Fox’s Maria Bartiromo, Trump said: “We got [the economy] to a level that the world has never seen before. We were the envy of the world and then when we got hit by the—as I call it the China virus, COVID—it obviously went down with every other economy.”

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Written by Aimee Walker

Aimee is a senior content editor at IGV who specialises in finding the best original stories, trending topics and entertainment news. She graduated from Birmingham City University with a degree in Media and Communications.