Harry Potter star Katie Leung was told by publicists to deny she was targeted with racist abuse

Harry Potter star Katie Leung was advised by her publicists to deny that she was receiving racist abuse online. 

The Scottish actress played Harry and Cedric Diggory’s love interest Cho Chang in the franchise, and starred in The Goblet of Fire, The Order of the Phoenix, The Half-Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows – Part Two.

Now 33, Katie said that she discovered abusive websites set up about her – many of them containing racist insults – as she felt pressurised to live up to the ‘pretty and popular’ description of Cho in JK Rowling’s books.

Speaking on the podcast Chinese Chippy Girl, the actress said: ‘During that time, it was the kind of rise of the internet and fandoms and all that sort of stuff. Because I’m 16 and a teenager, I care what people think as it is in school, never mind what the whole world thinks.

‘There was a lot of pressure there. I was so caught up in caring about what people thought of me.’

Katie, whose parents are from Hong Kong, continued: ‘I was Googling myself at one point, I remember reading all the comments, and there was a lot of racist s***.

‘Somebody had actually created a website, a hate site. It was like, if you disagree with this casting, click on this button, and it was like a count of who disagreed with the casting. It’s so awful. 

‘I didn’t get any interview or media training before these interviews, and I remember [her publicists] saying: “Katie, we haven’t seen these websites that people are talking about so if you get asked just say it’s not true, say it’s not happening”, I just nodded my head, even though I’d seen it with my own eyes. I’ll just saying everything’s great.

‘I was very f***ing grateful that I was in the position I was in, but it wasn’t great.’

Katie also discussed the rise in hate crimes against Asian people, and called out publications using pictures of an ‘Asian kid with a mask on as the illustration’ for stories about Boris Johnson easing coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

She said: ‘This is so insidious. exactly why the hate crimes are increasing.’

Katie previously discussed the racism she experienced on a daily basis, saying that taxi drivers would praise her on her English, despite her having been born in Motherwell and grown up in Dundee.

She told the Telegraph in 2016: ‘It really irks me. It is just ignorance. It is something that needs to be addressed.’

Since the last Harry Potter film, Katie has continued acting, and recently appeared in the BBC drama The Nest, starring Martin Compston.

Katie also starred in the comedy heist movie Locked Down, starring Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor. 

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