'Crazy Rich Asians' Director DENIES Brenda Song's Claim She Wasn't 'Asian Enough' For The Movie!

Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu is weighing in on Brenda Song‘s claims she wasn’t “Asian enough” to audition for his movie, and it turns out he feels “horrible” about it!

As we reported on Wednesday, the Disney Channel alum said her image directly affected why she never got a chance to seemingly try out for the lead role of Rachel Chu, which later ended up going to Constance Wu.

In conversation with Teen Vogue, the 31-year-old recalled the feedback her managers gave after consulting with the movie’s team who didn’t think she’d be a good choice for the part:

“A lot of people don’t know this, but I never got to read for Crazy Rich Asians, ever. Their reasoning behind that, what they said was that my image was basically not Asian enough, in not so many words. It broke my heart. I said, ‘This character is in her late to mid-20s, an Asian American, and I can’t even audition for it? I’ve auditioned for Caucasian roles my entire career, but this specific role, you’re not going to let me do it? You’re going to fault me for having worked my whole life?’ I was like, ‘Where do I fit?’”

Yikes, right?!

Even reading her statement makes us cringe at the idea of Brenda’s identity being challenged this way.

Turns out we’re not the only ones…

After seeing Song’s comments, Chu took to Twitter and denied those were his feelings about the audition! Replying to an article about the controversy, he wrote:

“??‍♂️would these words ever come out of my mouth? Nope makes no sense. I feel horrible she thinks this is the reason. The fact is I love Brenda Song and am a fan. I didn’t need her to audition because I already knew who she was!”

As seen, (below):

Okay, wait. So, let’s get this straight. Chu DIDN’T want Brenda to audition, just not for the reason she thought…

It’s still gotta hurt knowing she didn’t even get a shot to show what else she could have offered to the role.

We guess when you know, you just know!

We’ll venture to say Chu seems like’s being pretty sincere here. However, it seems like The Suite Life of Zack & Cody star wanted at least one chance to showcase her acting chops. She told Teen Vogue:

“I got myself together and said, ‘Brenda, there is only one you, and you can’t change who you are. You can’t change your past.’ I am so grateful for every job that I’ve done. All I can do is continue to put good auditions out there, do the best that I can — that’s all I can ask for.”

(Song has not yet responded to Chu’s latest explanation, BTW.)

And interestingly enough, Jon also tweeted another message about sourcing talent from all over the world when the movie-making process first began:

One of my favorite memories of making #CrazyRichAsians was when we opened the auditions to anyone in the world with our open call. We watched hundreds &hundreds of videos from very talented people from all around the world. Made us tear up many times. https://t.co/G5e64q0zmf

— Jon M. Chu (@jonmchu) November 21, 2019