Jeremy Lin isn't only a basketball player, he's a Harvard-educated, deeply religious, Asian-American NBA player.

Breaking down stereotypes isn't just something he does by default when he steps onto the court. Lin actively speaks out against them as an ambassador for the Asian-American community.

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Oscars host Chris Rock tackled the need for diversity in Hollywood at every turn at Sunday's Academy Awards, but also made a controversial joke with Asian children being portrayed as accountants, which Lin took as an opportunity to "stand up for Asians."

"I just feel like sometimes the way people perceive Asians or Asian-Americans today can be disappointing in the way they view them," Lin said before scoring six points in the Hornets' 126-92 win over the Suns on Tuesday. "Even Asian-American masculinity or whatever you want to talk about, just a lot of the ways that Asians are perceived I don't always agree with."

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Lin, who has been the subject of racist insults in the past, also tweeted about the joke on Monday.

Lin added on Tuesday that just as African-Americans are sometimes pigeonholed in Hollywood (and in society, in general), so too are Asian-Americans.

"In acting, you look at Asian roles, they always seem to be in similar roles," Lin said. "I feel like we are just so much more broad than that. What you see on TV, that is so influential. Perception is reality and that's the truth in today's day and age -- and we're in such a technological and digital age.

"So if we can start branching out a little bit or at least showing that we are different than what other people think we are, maybe we can start to break down some of those walls."

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