Harry Potter’s Katie Leung Says She Was Told to Deny Receiving Racist Remarks From Franchise Fans

Leia IdlibyMar 11th, 2021, 1:37 pm
 

katie leung

Actress Katie Leung, best known for her role as Cho Chang in the Harry Potter films, has opened up about being a target of racist attacks from fans of the franchise.

During a recent interview with the “Chinese Chippy Girl” podcast, Leung revealed that she faced intense online vitriol following her casting as Chang — a love interest to Daniel Radcliffe’s Harry Potter, who first appeared in 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

“I was Googling myself at one point, and I was on this website, which was kind of dedicated to the Harry Potter fandom. I remember reading all the comments. And, yeah, it was a lot of racist shit,” said Leung, who was cast when she was 16-years-old.

But instead of helping Leung work through the racism and hate, the actress claimed that her publicist told her to deny even receiving the attacks.

“I didn’t get any kind of interview [or] media training before I was doing these interviews and I remember them saying to me, ‘Oh, look Katie, we haven’t seen these, these websites that people are talking about. And you know, if you get asked that, just say it’s not true. Say it’s not happening,'” Leung said.

“And I just nodded my head. I was like, ‘Ok, ok,’ even though I had seen it myself with my own eyes. I was like, ‘Okay, yeah, I’ll just say everything’s great.'”

Leung did not clarify whether the comments came from a personal publicist or from studio representatives, but added that she sometimes wishes she said something at the time.

“I was really very fucking grateful that I was in the position I was in,” she added. “I keep saying, like, ‘Oh I wish I’d maybe said something.’ But you can’t do that.”

Leung had previously opened up about facing racist comments during a 2016 interview with Scotland’s The Herald.

“Looking back I can’t remember much about that part of it because I was so in denial of what was happening,” she said. “I put it to the back of my mind. I don’t know if that is the best way to deal with it, but that is naturally what I did in order to move on and be a good actor.”

Leung additionally made headlines in 2020 when she spoke out against J.K. Rowling’s controversial tweets:

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