Meghan McCain is taking ownership of her actions.
On Monday, March 22, The View co-host acknowledged she previously supported President Donald Trump referring to COVID-19 as the "China virus," but now she sees the error in her ways.
In a statement to E! News, she said, "I condemn the reprehensible violence and vitriol that has been targeted towards the Asian American community. There is no doubt Donald Trump's racist rhetoric fueled many of these attacks and I apologize for any past comments that aided that agenda."
John Oliver recently criticized the daughter of late Senator John McCain on HBO's Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. In a segment discussing the rise in anti-Asian hate incidents, Oliver discussed a March 2020 clip of The View, in which McCain explained why she thought it was permissible for Trump to use the inflammatory phrase to describe the virus.
At the time, she said, "I think if the left wants to focus on P.C. labeling this virus, it is a great way to get Trump re-elected. I don't have a problem with people calling it whatever they want. It's a deadly virus that did originate in Wuhan."
However, the new mom said she does not condone stereotyping people.
In response, Oliver noted, "Oh good! Meghan McCain doesn't have a problem with it. Listen not to the scores of Asian Americans telling everyone that the term is dangerous and offensive. Instead, gather around and take the word of a wealthy white woman who's dressed like she's about to lay off 47 people over Zoom."
"Meghan McCain posted this week, 'Stop Asian Hate,' with three broken hearts emoji, which is a fine sentiment to throw up on Twitter after the fact," he continued. "But there has to be an understanding that saying, 'I don't have a problem with calling it the China virus' is very much giving space for hate to grow."
According to NBC News, there has been a 150 percent increase in hate crimes targeting Asian people since 2019. The founder and director of demographic data and policy research for the nonprofit AAPI Data, Karthick Ramakrishnan, told NBC News that the steep increase in hate crimes cannot be exclusively attributed to Trump's racist rhetoric, but he believes it was a factor.
Ramakrishnan explained, "Trump's rhetoric helps set a certain narrative in place—and presidents have an outsized role in terms of shaping narrative. They don't call it a bully pulpit for nothing, and especially Trump, the way he frequently used Twitter as well as press conferences and off-the-cuff remarks to campaign rallies to frame the narrative in a particular way, it likely played a role."
Dozens of celebrities have spoken out about this issue afflicting the Asian American community, including Trevor Noah, Lana Condor and Daniel Dae-Kim.
Over the weekend, Killing Eve actress Sandra Oh delivered a sincere and positive speech to a crowd gathered in Pittsburgh. She proudly shared, "And just for one thing, I am proud to be Asian! I belong here! Many of us don't get that chance to be able to say that, so I just wanted to give us an opportunity to be able to shout that. Thank you so much."