The Devil Wears Prada 2 sparks racism backlash over Chinese character

The comedy The Devil Wears Prada 2 is raising hackles in China after a clip was released 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”.

Based on a report published in the South China Morning Post, many who saw the clip at first believed that the character, who introduces herself as the new assistant to Andy, the features editor at Runway magazine played by Anne Hathaway, 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 and other achievements in one breathless gush.

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

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

Lead actresses Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt and Hathaway are returning in the sequel. Miranda (Streep) is the editor-in-chief of fashion magazine Runway struggling to keep it afloat in a changing media landscape. She is supported by Andy, the features editor, 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 film.

The clip of Jin Chou was widely shared on various platforms, including Instagram, on which it attracted over 300 comments, with many expressing dismay over the name and portrayal of the character. One wrote: “There are thousands of first names in Chinese but they chose this name? Why didn’t they release this trailer before the Shanghai premiere? Because they knew.”

On the Reddit forum r/asianamerican, a gathering place for the Asian diaspora in North America, one commenter said that 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 of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter fantasy novels written by British author J.K. Rowling.