Toronto hosting Celebrity Classic basketball game

Saturday event benefitting Chinese youth athletic association headlined by Simu Liu, Jeremy Lin

- TERUIKEDA

Mississauga’s Simu Liu, who has starred as Shang-Chi in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and as Ken in last year’s “Barbie” phenomenon, will co-host this year’s event.

On Saturday, Toronto will host the fourth Celebrity Classic basketball game headlined by two close friends — and household names — actor Simu Liu and hoop star Jeremy Lin.

“The most rewarding thing is being able to inspire young people by bringing this wide spectrum of accomplished individuals to my home city,” said Liu, who has starred as Shang-Chi in the MCU and as a memorable Ken in last year’s “Barbie” phenomenon.

Clement Chu founded the Canadian Chinese Youth Athletic Association (CCYAA) in 2020. “It started off as a celebrity basketball game because Simu wanted to fundraise and raise awareness for Jeremy Lin’s Foundation, but we realized that there was this broader interest beyond basketball,” said Chu, recalling a special moment that occurred at a game a couple of years ago. “A (biracial) child went up to their parent and said, ‘You know, I feel pretty cool about being Asian.’ ”

“We saw that a lot of the community wasn’t necessarily coming just to watch a bunch of people play basketball. They wanted to (have) a broader celebration of what (Asian) culture has to offer,” he said.