Shocking backlash erupted across Asia as the long-awaited sequel The Devil Wears Prada 2 returned after 20 years — only to be accused of racist stereotyping of a Chinese character. Viewers blasted the character name Qin Zhou for sounding like the derogatory Western slur “Ching Chong,” while the character’s tacky styling and setup also drew fire. The uproar has triggered widespread calls for a boycott.
It’s 26 years into the 21st century, yet anti-Asian portrayals in Western films persist. Overt yellowface may have faded, but Asians are still too often the butt of the joke or reduced to props that prop up white-centered narratives. Even some of the buzziest, award-courting films of recent years haven’t escaped criticism. Here are several high-profile titles where Hollywood’s discriminatory gaze sparked major controversy.
◆ Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, hailed as a love letter to 1960s Tinseltown, left many Asian viewers gutted. The movie portrays martial arts legend Bruce Lee (played by Lee himself in the Korean text; in the film, the character is portrayed by Mike Moh) as a cocky blowhard. On screen, Bruce Lee brags he could beat Muhammad Ali — only to be humiliatingly slammed against a car by white stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt).
Bruce Lee’s daughter, Shannon Lee, condemned the depiction: “My father had to work three times harder than white actors just to survive in a white-dominated Hollywood,” she said. “The film reduced him to an arrogant punchline for white audiences.” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a close friend of Lee, likewise blasted the movie as “racist and lazy filmmaking.” Tarantino doubled down, claiming “Bruce Lee was arrogant in real life,” but the film couldn’t dodge the backlash for using an Asian icon to inflate a white character’s macho image.
◆ Licorice Pizza
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, which won the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay, faced immediate pushback from Asian American communities. The issue: white restaurant owner Jerry Frick (John Michael Higgins) mocks his Japanese wives by addressing them in a cringey mock “Asian” accent while speaking English, as if he himself were Japanese. He repeats the same racist gag with his second Japanese wife.
MANAA (Media Action Network for Asian Americans) condemned the film, noting that at a time of surging anti-Asian hate crimes, it turned Asians into “silly foreigners” for cheap laughs and called for awards boycotts. As criticism mounted, Anderson claimed he was “honestly depicting the 1970s,” but the movie has since been held up as a textbook example of Hollywood’s insidious, laugh-it-off racism that distorts and objectifies Asian women to cue white audience guffaws.
◆ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Marvel Studios’ first Asian-led superhero film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, ironically became a stark reminder of Hollywood’s history of anti-Asian tropes. While the movie strives to respect Asian cultures, the original comics carried a built-in sin: Shang-Chi’s father was Fu Manchu — the infamous Western caricature of the “evil Oriental,” defined by slitted eyes, a drooping mustache, and a bloodthirsty plot to destroy the West.
To shed that toxic legacy, the filmmakers overhauled the character into Wenwu (played by Tony Leung), a compelling, multidimensional figure. But Chinese audiences, well aware of how Western media has long vilified Asians, balked at the franchise’s roots in anti-Asian imagery. The result: the film never secured a theatrical release in mainland China, underscoring how past racist creations can leave scars that are hard to heal.