'Not the time to be silent': Saskatoon restaurant speaks out after receiving anti-Asian hate comments

Saskatoon rallies behind restaurant Watch: CTV Saskatoon's Miriam Valdes-Carletti tells us about the anti-Asian comments a restaurant received.

SASKATOON — A Saskatoon restaurant is speaking out after receiving anti-Asian comments from a Facebook post.

Estelle Yang is the co-owner of Hey! Fried Chicken and was looking online to read comments on the Saskatoon StarPhoenix’s Facebook page after being featured in an article.

“We saw those hateful comments and we were shocked, we were sad and there’s mixed feelings,” Yang told CTV News.

Yang says it’s been difficult to run a business during a pandemic while also having to deal with racist comments.

She adds that the other three co-owners feel connected with the city and consider it their home.

‘It’s really difficult for us to see something like this for all these years, all the volunteer work we’ve done, all the donations we’ve made to charity,” said Yang, “We never expected these stereotypes still exist for us.”

Yang says it’s the first time the business has seen racist comments since it first opened in 2020. They’re trying to stop the comments before they get worse.

“This is not the time to be silent, we need to speak out. If we speak out, maybe this can reduce the opportunity to happen to somebody else.”

Hey! Fried Chicken’s Facebook page took screenshots of the comments, posting it to their own page, condemning them and saying racism won’t be tolerated.

Since taking a stand the restaurant has received many warm comments full of support and encouragement from people all over the city, according to Yang.

For non-Asian people, Yang says people can support by speaking out against racist comments the first time.

“I believe all the violence and murders all start from words and languages. So if we’re people telling people it’s from the very beginning, maybe the violence won’t happen.”

Yang says more people are coming to support the restaurant and while it’s a difficult time, they’re doing okay.