Actress Chloe Bennet recently delivered a raw and unfiltered attack on Hollywood racism, saying Tinseltown’s preference for white actors forced her to change her last name in order to ensure better chances of getting good parts in television and movies, E! News reported Wednesday on its website.
“Changing my last name doesn’t change the fact that my BLOOD is half Chinese, that I lived in China, speak Mandarin or that I was culturally raised both American and Chinese,” Miss Bennet wrote on Instagram. “It means I had to pay my rent, and Hollywood is racist and wouldn’t cast me with a last name that made them uncomfortable. I’m doing everything I can, with the platform I have, to make sure no one has to change their name again, just so they can get work. So kindly love, f—k off.”
The “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” co-star’s now-deleted comment came in a thread on her Instagram page where she initially praised English actor Ed Skrein for dropping out of forthcoming re-boot of “Hellboy.” Mr. Skrein had come under criticism because the character he was portraying has traditionally been Asian, and Mr. Skrein left the production saying he felt he could not portray it in a “culturally accurate way.”
“DAMN, that’s a man. Thank you @edskrein for standing up against hollywoods continuous insensitivity and flippant behavior towards the Asian American community,” Miss Bennet wrote, approving Mr. Skrein’s statement. “There is no way this decision came lightly on your part, so thank you for your bravery and genuinely impactful step forward. I hope this inspires other actors/film makers to do the same.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼—Also, dayum cute af AND a pioneer for social injustice?! Fellas, take note. That’s how it’s done.”
The so-called whitewashing controversy marring the production of “Hellboy” is just the latest in a string of recent blowups regarding the portrayal of traditionally Asian characters by white actors.
According to her Internet Movie Database (IMDb) profile, Miss Bennet, was born Chloe Wang in Chicago in April 1992 to a father of Chinese descent and a mother from “English, Scottish, Irish, Swiss-German, and German ancestry.” She moved to Beijing as a teenager, learned Mandarin and successfully developed a career in China as a pop singer before branching out into acting, according to IMDb.
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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