Daniel Dae Kim sees the CBS News issues as part of a larger Hollywood problem

Trump’s meddling comes at a time when representation in media has finally taken some big strides forward (which is, of course, why he and his cronies are meddling in the first place). In a separate interview with NPR’s Fresh Air, Kim said he thinks things have changed “for the positive”: “When you look at movies like Crazy Rich Asians and you see this idea of a romantic comedy that centers Asian Americans, it’s something that could not have been done when I started my career. Just could not, I can’t imagine any studio executive saying like, ‘That sounds like a moneymaker!'” He reflected. But while there are “unquestionable signs of progress that we have to note and appreciate,” he regretfully added that, “I still haven’t played a romantic lead and I’ve been doing this for 30 years. It’s been a goal of mine since I started, but I just can’t seem to get cast as someone who gets the girl.”

For the AP, Kim expresses gratitude that he’s come far enough in his career that he can be more discerning with the jobs he chooses, as opposed to younger actors of color who sometimes take stereotypical roles just to break through. However, with a higher profile comes greater responsibility: “I don’t ever escape the fact that whatever I do will be watched and seen by so many people and judged through their own lens and filters,” he says. “I’m human, so everyone feels on certain days like, ‘Oh, this is too tough,’ or on another day, ‘I can’t wait to do this.’ But one of the reasons I think I act and produce is because I feel like there are a lot of stories to be told that haven’t been told yet, and one of those stories is a Korean American story.”