These words have the meaning you're implying to at least some people in the USA, it was new to me.
I don't know his full biography, seems to be Chinese born and went to MIT, but he signs off 'Cheers', I think it's a reasonable possibility that he doesn't mean whatever politically charged US meaning it has by it.
You're, with your US perspective, saying 'hey words have meaning you know, don't downplay murdering homosexuals' while millions^ of people smoke fags in the UK every day.
(^probably? Maybe not any more, a lot of fag-smoking relative to murder at any rate.)
I don't know his full biography, seems to be Chinese born and went to MIT, but he signs off 'Cheers', I think it's a reasonable possibility that he doesn't mean whatever politically charged US meaning it has by it.