In an apparent twist to countless stories of Asians being targeted by people who use COVID-19 to mask racist thoughts, an Asian commuter decided to troll a fellow passenger who immediately assumed she was sick.
The encounter, which was caught on video, took place on the New York City subway earlier this week.
Min, who goes by the handle @princessmin_c on Twitter, claims that the woman covered her face as soon as she saw her.
Curious of the extent of the woman’s reaction, Min decided to have her little fun — by fake-coughing.
In the video, Min can be heard faking a cough before confronting the woman, who mumbled something under her cover in response.
“I’m sorry? I’m sorry, say it again,” Min asked the woman. “I can’t hear you when you’re covering your mouth.”
Shortly after, the woman left her seat and walked far away from Min.
“I get on the train and this White woman immediately covers her mouth with a scarf when she sees me. I thought it would be interesting to fake cough and see how she reacts. The racism is showing Jan!” Min captioned her video, which has now more than 4.8 million views.
Some supported Min and thought the woman was downright racist:
One even shared a similar experience:
However, others argued that the woman was not racist for simply trying to protect herself.
In follow-up tweets, Min claimed that the woman had not been covering her face while sitting next to “other White folks.” She also slammed comments defending the woman for being “cautious,” since she was singled out for being Asian.
“Can’t even believe I have to explain this to a few ignorant people but THE POINT is that she covered her face before I was even fake-coughing. If she wanted to move quietly because someone was coughing by her, I understand, but she discriminated against me once she SAW ME,” Min wrote.
Feature Image Screenshots via @princessmin_c
