The Devil Wears Prada 2 sparks racism backlash over Asian character

Comedy film The Devil Wears Prada 2 (2026) is raising hackles in China after a clip was released on April 16 showing a stereotypically nerdy Asian woman whose name has been misheard by some as resembling the racist slur “Ching Chong”.

In the clip, which appears in promotional materials on the Instagram page of 20th Century Studios – which is owned by The Walt Disney Company – an Asian assistant introduces herself as “Jin Chao” to Andy, the features editor at fashion magazine Runway played by Anne Hathaway.

Based on a report published in the Hong Kong news publication South China Morning Post, many who saw the clip at first believed that the character said her name was “Chin Chou”. Chinese-American actress Helen J. Shen plays the eager-to-please assistant.

That mishearing provoked discussion among Chinese and Asian-American social media users, who said it resembled the slur used against Asian immigrants to the United States and Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In the clip, Jin, after noting what she perceives as disappointment in Andy’s demeanour, says: “If you don’t want me, you can interview someone else. That’s totally fine. I did go to Yale”, before listing her grade point average from the prestigious US university and other achievements in one breathless gush.

Commenters were also stirred up by the character’s insecurities over her academic qualifications, which reflect the model minority stereotype of Asian immigrants, taken to cartoonish extremes.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 opens in Singapore and China on April 30. It is the sequel of the 2006 sleeper hit, which grossed US$326 million globally and later became a favourite on cable and streaming platforms.

In China, The Devil Wears Prada film was also a success, leading many to eagerly watch advance publicity materials, including the clip which caused offence.

Lead actresses Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt also return in the sequel.

Miranda (Streep) is Runway’s editor-in-chief struggling to keep it afloat in a changing media landscape. She is supported by Andy, while Emily (Blunt) is a senior executive at a fashion house holding the advertising money that Runway needs to survive.

Streep and Hathaway were in Shanghai to promote the film on April 10, an event that was well received on Chinese social media.

However, the controversy in China has prompted some online commentators to say they will boycott The Devil Wears Prada 2.

The clip of Jin Chao has been widely shared on various platforms, including Instagram, where it attracted over 300 comments, with many expressing dismay.

One wrote: “There are thousands of (Chinese names), but they chose this name? Why didn’t they release this trailer before the Shanghai premiere? Because they knew.”

On the Reddit forum r/asian-american, a gathering place for the Asian diaspora in North America, one commenter said the name “is what a white person thinks a Chinese name should sound like”, before drawing comparisons to Cho Chang, the name of an Asian student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Harry Potter fantasy novels written by British author J.K. Rowling.