Comedian Ken Jeong donates $50,000 to victims' families in Atlanta-area spa shootings

Actor and comedian Ken Jeong donated $50,000 to the families of victims who were killed in the shootings at three Atlanta-area spas last week.

Five $10,000 donations were made by Kendrick Jeong to the GoFundMe campaigns for the families of Soon Chung Park, Hyun Jung Grant, Suncha Kim, Xiaojie Tan and Yong Yue. NBC News confirmed that the donations came from the “The Hangover” actor Monday afternoon.

Authorities also identified Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels and Daoyou Feng as victims in the attack. A white 21-year-old man has been charged with eight counts of murder in their deaths, as well as an aggravated assault charge.

Jeong, whose parents migrated to the U.S. from South Korea, also shared some of the fundraising campaigns to his Twitter account. He also shared a video to his account calling for an end to anti-Asian racism in the aftermath of the shooting, featuring other Asian American actors such as Keiko Agena and Lou Diamond Phillips.

“Stop the pandemic of hate,” Jeong said in the video.

A representative for Jeong did not have a statement on the donations when reached for comment from NBC News.

Six of the eight victims in the Atlanta-area shootings were women of Asian descent, bringing further attention to the anti-Asian racism that has been spotlighted since the coronavirus pandemic began last year.

Nearly 3,800 incidents of anti-Asian hate were reported in the last year, with about 68 percent of reports made by women, according to research released by reporting forum Stop AAPI Hate just prior to last week’s shooting.

Experts said that Asian women were more likely affected in these types of incidents because of the intersection of sexism and racism, including the stereotype that Asian women are meek and subservient, which might make them perceived as an easy target.