The marketing rollout for the sequel to the 2006 hit has become the story. On April 16, the official 20th Century Studios account shared a short clip that shows Anne Hathaway’s character interacting with the new assistant Jin Chao, played by Helen J. Shen. The snippet, designed to tease the film’s fashion-world comedy, instead triggered a wave of criticism in several East Asian markets after viewers interpreted the portrayal as leaning on well-worn racial stereotypes.
Within hours the clip racked up huge attention online—viewed more than 25 million times—and specific posts about the sequence were amplified widely on X. One reply that gained viral traction was seen roughly 16 million times, underlining how a single promotional moment can dominate public conversation. The debate has centered on the character’s name, wardrobe, mannerisms and academic achievements, all elements that critics say combine into a caricature rather than a nuanced supporting role.
What the clip shows and why people reacted
In the shared excerpt, Jin Chao explains how she became Andy Sachs’ assistant, listing an impressive academic record—a 3.86 GPA from Yale and a first-time ACT score of 36—while dressed in a comparatively conservative, bespectacled look. Many viewers argued that these choices—name, appearance and the “nerdy, high-achiever” profile—echo old Hollywood tropes about Asian characters: academically exceptional but socially awkward and unfashionable. Critics in China, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong said the bits of dialogue and styling felt like shorthand for an entire culture rather than a fully formed person, prompting accusations of lazy stereotyping in a film about style and image.
The online reaction across Asia
Key complaints and calls for boycott
Social media posts ranged from outraged to deeply disappointed. Some users claimed the name sounded similar to the racist slur Ching Chong, and others focused on the depiction of an Asian woman as an awkward, uncool intellectual—a portrayal many feel is outdated. Responses included direct calls for a boycott and broad critiques of Hollywood’s long history of reductive portrayals. National and regional outlets picked up the story, and threads in Japanese and Korean networks became particularly incendiary, with viewers saying the characterization undermined the film’s previous goodwill and its promotional momentum.
Translation, amplification and media coverage
The controversy was amplified by autotranslation features on platforms like X, which allowed posts in Japanese, Korean and Chinese to