Meghan McCain Tweets 'Stop Asian Hate', Apologizes For Supporting Trump's Anti-Asian Rant

Meghan McCain has expressed regret about her past comments supporting former US President Donald Trump’s anti-Asian rhetoric. “The View” co-host apologized on social media for having condoned Trump’s use of racist terms like “China virus” when he would refer to COVID-19.

McCain tweeted on Monday: "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."

This comes after John Oliver slammed McCain on Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight” after she posted a “Stop Asian Hate” poster on her Instagram account.

In the wake of recent attacks on Asians and last week’s shooting in Atlanta where six Asian women were killed, Oliver dedicated a segment of his show to America’s ingrained hatred and violence toward Asian Americans.

During this segment, Oliver pointed out McCain's post and called her a hypocrite. He also featured a video clip of McCain from last year, where she tried to blur the impact of Trump's "China virus" term during an episode of "The View", The Los Angeles Times reported.

"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," she said in the video.

Oliver responded to the clip by criticizing her for condoning a "dangerous and offensive" term and pointed out her hypocrisy: “A fine sentiment to throw up on Twitter after the fact,” Oliver said.

Last year, as Trump used terms like “Wuhan virus” and “kung flu” at news conferences and campaign rallies, a group of researchers tracked the number of anti-Asian hashtags that were used together with the neutral hashtag #covid19 compared with #chinesevirus. Yulin Hswen, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco said they found evidence of an association between the latter phrase and anti-Asian language, USA Today reported.

The associations show the majority of people associated #chinesevirus with negative statements and meant it to have a stigmatizing effect, Hswen added.