In an interview with POPSUGAR released Wednesday, Suni Lee details a potential hate crime that happened to her and her friends after a night out in Los Angeles.

Lee, 18, an Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast, Hmong American, college student, and eventual "Dancing with the Stars" contestant, said she was out with her girlfriends, all of Asian descent, last month when they were waiting for an Uber.

A car sped by the group while yelling racist slurs at the girls like “Ching Chong” and “go back to where [you] came from.” Suni claims that one passenger also sprayed her arm with pepper spray as the car drove away.

“I was so mad, but there was nothing I could do or control because they skirted off,” Lee recalled. "I didn't do anything to them, and having the reputation, it's so hard because I didn't want to do anything that could get me into trouble. I just let it happen.”

Hate crimes directed at Asian Americans in the U.S. are on the rise, specifically because of Covid-19 misinformation and stereotypes that fuel racist attacks like the one Lee experienced.

According to Stop AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) Hate, from March 19, 2020, to June 30, 2021, 4,548 incidents of hate against Asians occurred in 2020, and 4,533 more have been reported in 2021.

Lee is the first Asian American to win Olympic gold in women’s gymnastics all-around. She is also the first Hmong American to ever qualify for the Olympics, according to NBC Chicago.

As for her career, Lee is not sure what is next after the completion of "Dancing with the Stars" since gymnastics has dominated her life until very recently.

“I don't know what to do with my life because I've never had nothing to work for," she said. "I'm still trying to find that one thing that I really want."

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