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Twitter Hashtag Calls for More Asian Representation

In the past couple of days, you might have seen #StarringJohnCho trending on Twitter, and recently, John Cho himself responded in support of the hashtag.

The premise behind #StarringJohnCho is to highlight the lack of Asian main characters in Hollywood movies. Using some excellent Photoshop skills, many people have recreated famous movie posters reimagined with John Cho’s face on them:

And now, John Cho himself has responded, talking about the struggles Asian people face in Hollywood. Speaking to Yahoo7, he first thought that the hashtag was “silly,” but loved it when it began sparking discussion over an issue that is not usually in the limelight:

“This experience made me reflect on how people think. In the United States, we’re very aware of racism, and that pertains to African Americans because it’s built into this dark period – obviously slavery – and so that’s on the forefront of people’s minds, and often a topic of discussion. In that sense racism towards African Americans as an example is something people can recognise as existing.”

Cho also spoke of the built-in preconceptions about Asians, and how most people fail to notice the subtle prejudice towards Asian actors:

“Preconceived notions and stereotypes of Asians is something people don’t think about or recognise. It’s a similar attitude towards women. There’s so much chauvinism in the world and patriarchal viewpoints but it’s so embedded in our culture that people don’t even realize.”

The movement has continued to grow. Recently, actress Constance Wu supported #StarringJohnCho, tweeting:

Since then, a number of #StarringConstanceWu manipulations have been created:

This movement continues to highlight the need for more racial diversity in movies. Hopefully, it is only a matter of time before Hollywood catches up.

What was your response to #StarringJohnCho and #StarringConstanceWu? Leave a comment down below and tweet us @CelebMix!

Written by CelebMix