The messages came from the franchise’s fans themselves
Actor Katie Leung, known for portraying Cho Chang in the Harry Potter franchise, recently opened up about experiencing racist attacks from fans while she was working on the series. She added that publicists told her to deny if she were ever asked anything of the sort.
Leung spoke about her experience on the podcast Chinese Chippy Girl on Monday, saying that after she got casted in 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, she came across racist messages from fans online.
Asked to deny
Leung recalled Googling herself and being on a website that was dedicated to the Harry Potter fandom, and remembered reading the comments. “And yeah, it was a lot of racist sh*t,” she said.
Leung was born and raised in Scotland and is of Chinese descent, was only 16 when she was casted in the movie. She added that she had not received any media training before appearing for interviews and said that the publicists ordered her to deny if she was asked about going through racist attacks.
She said that she remembered them saying that they hadn’t seen any such thing, and that if she gets asked anything about it, just deny. She said that she only nodded her head in agreement, even though she had seen it with her own eyes, and had to pretend everything was going great.
No comments from Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Pictures, who was the lead studio behind the films, didn’t comment on the topic, so it’s unclear if the publicists were from the studio or just the actress’s.
Leung added that she was grateful for the position she was in, and that she wished she could say something, but couldn’t do it.
After appearing in the Harry Potter movies, Leung acted on Locked Down, The Foreigner and on TV shows like The Nest, White Dragon, and Chimerica.
You may also like: Harry Styles Grammy opening ceremony