Chloe Bennet, Chinese-American star of ABC’s Marvel show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., recently shared her appreciation of Ed Skrein’s highly publicized decision to back out of the upcoming Hellboy reboot because, as a white man, he felt that playing a character of “mixed Asian heritage” would be disrespectful. But after sharing her support for Skrein on Instagram, she was confronted by a commenter who asked why she changed her given name from Chloe Wang to Chloe Bennet after becoming an actress.
Bennet responded swiftly and candidly, writing back (bold mine):
“Changing my last name doesn’t change the fact that my BLOOD is half Chinese, that I lived in China, speak Mandarin or that I was culturally raised both American and Chinese. It means I had to pay my rent, and Hollywood is racist and wouldn’t cast me with a last name that made them uncomfortable.”
She went on:
I’m doing everything I can, with the platform I have, to make sure no one has to change their name again, just so they can get work”
Said a fan in her comments, “🔥🔥🔥.”