Katie Leung revealed that she was told as a teenager to pretend that racist attacks hurled at her during her involvement in the “Harry Potter” franchise weren’t happening.
The Asian Scottish actor, who played Cho Chang in the popular films beginning at the age of 16, recently told the “Chinese Chippy Girl” podcast that she began experiencing harassment even before she began filming — and that a photo of her was secretly taken before her casting was announced and plastered “over the front page of all of the newspapers.”
Leung, who was still relatively anonymous and enrolled in school at the time, described feeling violated by it.
“I just broke down, I just started crying,” Leung said.
She said that initial experience — along with the pressure of portraying Chang, who was described in the books as being pretty and popular as well as being the titular character’s first love interest and kiss — led her to look herself up on the internet.
“I was googling myself at one point, and I was on this website, which was kind of dedicated to the kind of Harry Potter fandom,” Leung recalled. “I remember reading all the comments. And yeah, it was a lot of racist shit.”
She said she even found a “hate site” dedicated to her that included a counter of how many people disagreed with her casting.
She said she informed her publicists about it, but received no support and was told to act like the attacks didn’t even exist.
“I remember them saying to me, ‘Oh, look, Katie, we haven’t seen these websites that people are talking about. And you know, if you get asked [about these sites and the harassment], just say it’s not true, say it’s not happening.’”
Leung, who noted that she hadn’t had any media training before she began doing interviews for “Harry Potter,” said that she nodded her head and complied in response to her publicists’ suggestion.
“Even though I had seen [the racist attacks] myself, with my own eyes ... I was like, ‘OK, I’ll just say everything is great.’”
Racist online abuse perpetrated by a rabid fanbase is not a unique experience, unfortunately.
Kelly Marie Tran, who played Rose Tico in several “Star Wars” films, wiped her Instagram account in June 2018 due to months of racist and sexist online harassment after becoming the franchise’s first woman of color in a lead role.
And although Leung told the “Chinese Chippy Girl” podcast that she regrets not speaking up about the racist attacks she was experiencing as a teenager, she has been vocal in other ways.
In June 2020, Leung pushed back against J.K. Rowling after the “Harry Potter” author went on a transphobic tear.
In a Twitter thread that began with the line “So, you want my thoughts on Cho Chang? Okay, here goes...” Leung offered resources to support Black transgender people around the globe. She ended the thread with “#AsiansForBlackLives.”