Action star Jackie Chan’s daughter Etta Ng, whom he fathered with former beauty queen Elaine Ng, has publically exposed her ‘homophobic’ parents through a YouTube rant along with her girlfriend Andi Autumn. The 18-year old came out as a lesbian in October 2017 and reportedly had a rather strained relationship with both her parents. Chan himself has refused to accept Etta as his own daughter. The teenager who claims that she has been homeless for a month and had to sleep under a bridge because she was turned away by everyone whom she approached for help.

Many were quick to disapprove of the video, asking the two to find a job instead of ranting online. Her own mother, Elaine wasn’t happy with the two using Jackie Chan’s name to drum up support. But Etta has received support from Indian celebs who empathised with her fight for acceptance and have openly decried the narrow-minded attitude of her famous parents. Designer Suneet Varma opened up to the Hindustan Times and recalls the time Mel Gibson’s career took a beating when he said something homophobic. “Every third fan of him was homosexual, and they didn’t like what he said, and his career wasn’t the same as it was before,” he said. He told HT that if there was a kernel of truth in Etta’s allegations about her father, he will stop watching any of Jackie Chan’s movies.

Filmmaker Onir shares Varma’s sentiments and says that homophobic utterances by famous people tend to show them in a negative light. “It’s something that they should be ashamed of. It’s certainly not a glorifying thing to say,” he says.

Former Mr. Gay India Sushant Divgikr is not as indignant as Varma or Onir. He says that homophobic comments of revelations don’t both the community at all. “I don’t care about what is said against the LGBT community. I’ll be there for his daughter, if she needs me. It’s not my problem, or it doesn’t concern me that some people, even if they are celebrities have such a thought process. It’s their loss at the end of the day,” he said.

Wedding planner Punit Jasuja is of the opinion that the social changes following the #MeToo movement will allow the LGBTQ community to hit back harder at Jackie Chan’s homophobia. He cites how the movement affected actor Kevin Spacey who was scathingly attacked following allegations of sexual abuse. ‘We don’t associate ourselves with him.’ In this case as well, there’s no difference between homophobia and racism; and people, in today’s times, are generally very quick to disassociate themselves from anyone who thinks like this,” he adds.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 02, 2018 06:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).