BD Wong has apologized publicly after admitting that a comment he made online was racist and hurtful.
As reported by Newsweek, the longtime Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star addressed the issue in a statement on his Threads account on Tuesday, December 2, saying he fully understood the weight of his words and was taking accountability.
“I want to elaborate re a racist comment I posted, to clarify that I recognize & accept the responsibility for how terrible it is,” Wong wrote.
The apology came after BD Wong faced swift backlash for a comment he left on Threads under a post by the popular nature creator @therealtarzann, run by Mike Holston.
Holston, who is Black, had shared a photo of himself with an animal and joked, “Name this animal…wrong answers only.” Wong responded with, “It appears to be a Black man.”
Screenshots of the comment spread quickly after Wong deleted it, and many critics called out how deeply harmful the remark was, noting the long, painful history of Black people being dehumanized and compared to animals.
One user wrote, “Historically, Black people have been dehumanized & compared to animals, apes, monkeys to justify slavery, segregation, & ongoing violence; joking that a Black man is ‘the animal’ continues to that history.”
Others demanded full accountability from Wong. “It was more than a bad joke, it was racist,” someone said. “Call it that and name your racism if you want to be genuine in your apology.”
In his statement, Wong said he recognized that trying to justify or explain the comment would only worsen the situation. “It’s also wrong to try to ‘explain’ anything, & I think that causes a further breaking down in folks’ trust,” he wrote. He went on to admit that his remark leaned on “a despicable, racist trope in the supposed spirit of humor.”
Wong clarified that he deleted the comment not to dodge accountability but to stop it from spreading further. He said he removed it “so as to not unnecessarily perpetuate it, not just for myself but for all whom it would offend.”
The actor — whose long career includes Jurassic Park, Mr. Robot, and hundreds of episodes of Law & Order: SVU — ended his apology by taking full responsibility. “Very sorry for the hurt I’ve caused & for taking lightly something so deeply injurious,” he wrote.
