US Lawmakers Condemn Podcast's Call for Chinese-American Internment

A group of prominent Asian-American lawmakers in the U.S. Congress has issued a strong condemnation of a right-wing podcast that suggested the internment of Chinese-Americans during a potential conflict with Beijing. The lawmakers warned that such inflammatory rhetoric fuels dangerous hate speech and targets the community.

The joint statement came from congresswomen Grace Meng, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (Capac), and Judy Chu, Capac’s chairwoman emerita, alongside congressman Ted Lieu, vice-chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. Their criticism was aimed at comments made on the popular YouTube podcast "Timcast IRL," hosted by commentator Tim Pool, which boasts 2.77 million subscribers.

During an episode aired on August 14, social media influencer Ian Crossland voiced the idea of wartime confinement for Chinese-Americans. While he prefaced his remarks by stating he did not want to implicate all Chinese-Americans, calling the idea "horrific," he proceeded to question their loyalty. Crossland's comments sparked immediate backlash from the lawmakers, who view such discussions as a dangerous echo of historical injustices and a threat to the safety of the Chinese-American community.

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If there was a war between the Chinese and the Americans, and the Chinese landed in, like, Alaska and started coming through Canada, what – do you think we should intern all the Chinese-Americans we can find? Because it kind of seems like we should.