MUMBAI: Rihanna took to the streets Sunday to show her support for the Asian American community amid a surge of anti-Asian hate crimes.
The “Umbrella” singer was spotted in New York City toting a handmade sign that read “STOP ASIAN HATE” on one side and “HATE = RACISM AGAINST GOD” on the other.
Rihanna’s assistant, Tina Truong, posted an Instagram story on Monday of the Fenty Beauty owner making the sign, alongside a few videos from the protest.
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Truong also posted a photo and video of Rihanna at the rally on Instagram. The musician was able to stay incognito at the event thanks to her outfit, which consisted of a gray hoodie, leather bomber jacket, baseball cap, sunglasses and a mask.
Rihanna was out in NYC at the Stop Asian Hate march alongside her assistant!! (: @teacuptina) pic.twitter.com/ohqNXuNP0x
— TheShadeRoom (@TheShadeRoom) April 5, 2021
In fact, Rihanna was so unrecognizable that a fellow protester was taken aback when he asked her for her Instagram handle, asking, “That’s you?”
Rihanna giving her Instagram handle to protesters at the #StopAsianHate march in NYC. pic.twitter.com/3g4uG7PPs3
— Rihanna News (@TeamOfRihanna) April 5, 2021
Rihanna’s involvement in the rally comes weeks after the Atlanta-area spa shootings that killed eight people, six of them Asian women. In the past year, hate crimes against Asian Americans rose 150% in the nation’s largest cities, according to a California State University analysis of police records that was released earlier this month.
Shortly after the spa shootings, Rihanna spoke out on Instagram, saying they were “brutal, tragic, and is certainly not an isolated incident.”
“AAPI hate has been rampantly perpetuated and it’s disgusting!” she wrote. “I’m heartbroken for the Asian community and my heart is with the loved ones of those we lost yesterday. The hate must stop. #ProtectAAPILives.”
