Brenda Song Reveals She Told She Was ‘Not Asian Enough’ To Audition For ‘Crazy Rich Asians’

Crazy Rich Asians was all the rage in 2018, starring a perfectly assembled cast. The book-turned-movie was a ground-breaking romantic comedy that broke box office records and met the huge demand for Asian representation in Hollywood. Actress Brenda Song recently revealed she was denied the opportunity to even audition for the movie because she was “not Asian enough.”

As a fan of the book, Song had her manager contact the Crazy Rich Asians team and was then told she wasn’t able to audition. “Their reasoning behind that, what they said was that my image was basically not Asian enough, in not so many words,” Song told Teen Vogue. “It broke my heart. I said, ‘This character is in her late to mid-20s, an Asian American, and I can’t even audition for it?”

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However, after the release of Song’s interview, the director of the film, Jon Chu took to Twitter to deny the charge. Chu shared that he was a fan of Song’s and never knew anything about the treatment she received. “I love @BrendaSong and that sucks if anything of that nature was ever communicated,” he wrote. “It’s gross actually. The fact is, obviously I know who she is and didn’t need her to audition. I’m a fan of hers! Nothing more nothing less. Bums me out she thought it was anything but.”

??Nope. I love @BrendaSong and that sucks if anything of that nature was ever communicated. It’s gross actually. The fact is, obviously I know who she is and didn’t need her to audition. I’m a fan of hers! 🤷🏻‍♂️Nothing more nothing less. Bums me out she thought it was anything but.

— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) November 20, 2019