Advertisers were far from supportive when the actress who played Cho Chang’s character in the “Harry Potter” films discovered websites full of racist fan abuse against her.
“I was, like, researching myself at one point, and I was on this website, which was kind of dedicated to the ‘Harry Potter’ type of fandom. I remember reading all the comments, ”said Katie Leung, now 33, who was cast as Chang at 16, on Monday’s episode of the“ Chinese Chippy Girl ”podcast. “Someone really created a website – a hate website. It was as if you disagreed with this casting, clicked that button, and it was as if it were a count of who disagreed with the casting. It is so horrible. “
The Scottish actor, who is of Chinese descent, told his publicists about his disturbing discovery. But instead of offering support or solutions, she claimed, they told her that they had never seen the sites and advised her to deny that they existed, BuzzFeed first reported.
“I remember them saying to me, ‘Look, Katie, we haven’t seen these, these sites that people are talking about. And, you know, if someone asks you that, just say it’s not true, say it’s not happening, ‘”she said. “And I just shook my head. I was like, ‘OK, OK,’ even though I saw it with my own eyes. I was like, ‘OK, yeah, I’m just going to say that everything is great.’ “
She did not specify whether advertisers worked for her or Warner Bros., the producer of the franchise.
Although she agreed to smile and pretend that everything was fine at the time, the existence of such sites deeply disturbed her.
“Back then, it was the kind of rise of the internet and fandoms and all that sort of thing. Since I’m 16 and I’m a teenager, I worry about what people think like at school, no matter what the world thinks. There was a lot of pressure there. I was so concerned with what people thought of me, ”she continued.
Still, she remains “really grateful” for being part of the “Harry Potter” films. Today, however, she has stopped pretending and admits that her experience of filming “was not great”.
At the time, without the support of her publicists, she did as they were told and controlled her pain.
“Looking back, I can’t remember much about that part because I was very much denying what was going on,” she told The Herald of Scotland in 2016. “I put that in the back of my mind. I don’t know if that’s the best way to deal with it, but I did it naturally to move on and be a good actor. “
Warner Bros. did not return the Post’s request for comment.
