Olympic gold medalist Alysa Liu, “Heated Rivalry” actor Hudson Williams and singer Laufey became household names this year for different talents, but for many online fans, these stars are not just celebrities, but princes and princesses of the fictional royal court of Wasia and “Wasian Avengers” that are united by their mixed-race identity.
Wasian, a portmanteau of white and Asian, is not a new term, but “it just hasn’t been this visible” until now, said Myra Washington, an associate professor at the University of Utah who studies mixed-race identities. “You’re just seeing now this generation that has come up wholly with a new way of being able to categorize themselves.”
On TikTok and Instagram, there is a surging fixation on tracing mixed-race celebrities’ white-Asian heritage–– and famous Wasians are embracing the label.
In a social media post for Laufey’s new music video “Madwoman,” which starred Liu and Williams, along with other Wasians like actress Lola Tung and Katseye’s Megan Skiendiel, Liu wrote “Shoutout Wasiaaaa” as her caption, to which Laufey replied, “Long live wasia.”
“Growing up, I felt a general lack of representation for people who looked like me in music and media. With the ‘Madwoman’ video, I wanted to be that representation,” Laufey told the Hollywood Reporter about why she cast these Asian Americans in leading roles for her video.
Wasian fans are appreciating the newfound visibility. Chicago-based Hailey Buss, a 22-year-old TikTok creator who describes herself as the “secretary of wasia” in her social media bio, believes Williams’ meteoric rise in the TV show “Heated Rivalry” and Liu’s gold-medal ice skating win helped cement 2026 as the year of the Wasian.
“All the Wasians are uniting and being like, ‘Oh my God, there’s so many of us that we didn’t know,’” Buss said.
Why 2026 Might Be The Year Of Wasians
Illustration: HuffPost; Photos: Getty
LeiLani Nishime, a professor of communication at the University of Washington who researches multiracial Asian Americans, said Wasian is just the latest popular mixed-race Asian term in U.S. history. After the Vietnam War, for example, part-white, part-Asian Americans may have been called Amerasians, especially if they were believed to be fathered by American servicemen stationed overseas. And in the ’80s and ’90s, hapa, a Hawaiian word for “part” became a popular way to describe mixed Asian and Pacific Islander identity until it fell out of favor for appropriating Hawaiian culture, Nishime explained.
At best, Nishime said the term Wasian can help name a particular kind of experience and help people with this mixed-race identity find community with each other. “Being able to have a name gives people to think in more complicated ways about race,” Nishime said.
Calling yourself Wasian is also a playful portmanteau that invites jokes and makes talking about race fun.
“A queen hasn’t really been decided, but everyone agrees that Keanu Reeves is the king” of Wasia, Buss said about online fans who are playfully charting the royal family of Wasia’s lineage.
“The term Wasian in itself is kind of goofy, so I feel like it’s meant to be funny,” Nishime said.
The Wasian Term’s Rise Creates Community — But It Also Reflects Uneven Divides
But problems may arise for people not in on the humor. Nishime’s concern “is that it can start creating these boundaries and people saying, ‘This is what a Wasian’ person is supposed to be like.’”
Washington cautioned against dubbing people as Wasian if they have not yet publicly acknowledged their multiracial identity as such. “My one caution is that people can’t use it for other people. You can only use it for yourself,” Washington said.
What unites some Wasians across their different ethnic heritages are not just jokes about the imagined continent of Wasia –– it can be a shared sense of displacement and alienation for being multiracial. Buss noted that Wasians often have to contend with “Oxford study” harmful stereotypes that criticize the romantic and sexual choices of Asian women who date white men.
“Every Wasian is always like, ‘Oh, like, you’re not white enough, oh, you’re not Asian enough,’” Buss said.
Buss, who is Korean American, said when she lived in South Korea, she was not accepted as Korean, which is why she and other Wasians relate to the broader mixed-race term. “It’s easier for us to say Wasian instead of specifying what type of Wasian we are, because, we don’t really feel like we belong in our ethnic group in the first place,” Buss said.
Blasians, or people who identify as Black-Asian, also had a moment of great visibility before this current Wasian era, which is an example of how these trends “are always cyclical,” Washington said. Before presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ rise, there was Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Tiger Woods and model Kimora Lee Simmons in entertainment and sports as famous Blasians, for example.
Even within the Wasian community, there is unequal attention on which Wasians get elevated. Notably, the most popular Wasians of the moment are of East Asian descent, like Williams and Liu. Buss noted that in Laufey’s video, only East Asian Wasians were represented as leads, and there “should be” a lot more South Asian representation.
“Part of it is that East Asia is wealthier, has a lot more political power,” Nishime said about this uneven focus. “Because of that hierarchy, those are the people who are going to get the most attention, get the most press, kind of get centered in those conversations.”
It’s an example of how attitudes around mixed-race identities are evolving, but there is still more progress to be made.
For now, the rise in on-screen media representation of Wasians is one small step forward for Wasians seeking community online.
“A lot of people in my [TikTok] comments are like, ‘Oh, I’m 25 [% Asian]. Do I still count?’” Buss recalled. “And people will comment back and be like, ‘Yes, girl, you’re part of us.’”
