Golden State Valkyries get a little more golden, and Olivia Munn not onboard with Celebrity Space Flight
By Romen Basu Borsellino | 18 Apr, 2025

Celebrities react to Blue Origin’s star-studded mission, Comedian John Mulaney jokes about his Vietnamese in-laws, and Asians dominate Time 100

Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin made headlines this week by sending the first ever all female flight crew into space…for 10 minutes. In addition to actress Katy Perry and broadcaster Gayle King, the six-woman crew included activist and entrepreneur Amanda Nguyen, who became the first woman of Vietnamese heritage to go to space. This achievement was not lost on Vietnam's President Luong Cuong, who sent Nguyen a letter of congratulations which also noted that this year marks the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the US and Vietnam. 

Amanda Nguyen became a national figure known for her activism around sexual assault survivors’ rights, following her own rape when she was a student at Harvard in 2013. She was also credited with creating a viral video that helped launch the campaign combating a rise in anti-Asian racism in 2021. And most people don’t know that prior to all of that, she was an intern at NASA with hopes of one day becoming an astronaut.

A number of celebs who were not on-board — both figuratively and literally — have been blasting the blastoff, including actress Olivia Munn. Munn, who is currently on a press tour for “Your Friends and Neighbors” on Apple TV+ decried the mission as a waste of money and referred to it as the astronaut's’ own Disney’s Space Mountain roller coaster. For those keeping score, this story now includes mentions of Apple, Amazon, and Disney. We’re just one Netflix name-drop away from batting the cycle. 

As it turns out, Munn’s husband, comedian John Mulaney, opened Wednesday's episode of his Netflix show “Everybody’s Live,” with a comedic ode to Munn’s late Vietnamese uncle. In addition to Mulaney joking about how the man spent his life claiming to be six feet tall despite actually being five feet tall, Mulaney described certain Vietnamese funeral traditions like the direction the casket had to face. Mulaney ended by joking that he was not allowed to attend the Vietnamese Military funeral so “All of the Americans left them to clean up the mess.”

And one week after making history as the First Taiwanese woman to win an NCAA Division I Basketball Championship, UCONN’s Kaitlin Chen has become the first ever Taiwanese player to be drafted into the WNBA. Chen was picked 30th overall in the third and final round of the draft. She will be a member of the league’s brand new expansion team, The Golden State Valkyries. Chen had the following to say:

“I feel like growing up, there haven’t been a ton of Asian American athletes playing at the highest level, and to be able to sort of be that role model for younger Asian Americans and Asians in general is definitely really special, and I hope that I can be someone that they can look up to,”

As if that isn’t enough history being made, Golden State will be led by Natalie Nakase, the WNBA’s first even Asian American coach. Golden, indeed. 

Finally, Time Magazine has released its annual list of the “100 Most Influential People” of the year and it is Asian-heavy! The list includes at least fifteen Asians and Asian Americans, up from just seven in 2020. They are:

Innovators: Director Jon M. Chu, Musician Nicole Scherzinger, Architect Ma Yansong, and Chef Nok Suntaranon

Titans: AMD CEO Lisa Su and Hong Kong Stock Exchange CEO Bonnie Y. Chan

Artists: Actor Daniel Dae Kim and Artist Yoshitomo Nara

Icons:  Actor Hiroyuki Sanada and Musician Yoshiki

Leaders: South Korean Opposition Leader Lee Jae-Myung and Vortex Pharmaceuticals CEO Reshma Kewalraman

Pioneers: Google DeepMind Co-Founder Demis Hassabis, Musician Rosé, and Deepseek CEO Liang Wenfeng. 

The names are in no particular order, which is probably a good thing for a group that is probably among the world’s most competitive.