--- title: Margaret Cho Speaks Out on Whitewashing Asian Characters description: From Doctor Strange to Ghost in a Shell, Hollywood has a bad a habit of casting white actors in Asian roles canonical: https://time.com/4316844/margaret-cho-whitewashedout-asian-characters/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-03T20:13:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:14:33.767Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Margaret Cho and Fans Speak Out About Whitewashing Asian Characters og:description: With the hashtag #WhiteWashedOut og:url: https://time.com/4316844/margaret-cho-whitewashedout-asian-characters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03cffc64ab02e2fe/698891b25f570fc481b20c29/gettyimages-506985036.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Logo New Now Next Honors From Aspen Gay Ski Week og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Margaret Cho and Fans Speak Out About Whitewashing Asian Characters twitter:description: With the hashtag #WhiteWashedOut twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03cffc64ab02e2fe/698891b25f570fc481b20c29/gettyimages-506985036.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Margaret Cho and Fans Speak Out About Whitewashing Asian Characters > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account.  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 3, 2016 8:13 PM UTC  Margaret Cho hosts the Logo New Now Next Honors From Aspen Gay Ski Week on January 23, 2016 in Aspen, Colorado. Margaret Cho hosts the Logo New Now Next Honors From Aspen Gay Ski Week on January 23, 2016 in Aspen, Colorado.Santiago Felipe—2016 Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent May 3, 2016 8:13 PM UTC Comedian Margaret Cho joined forces with author Ellen Oh to talk with Keith Chow of [Nerds of Color](https://thenerdsofcolor.org/) about the common Hollywood practice of casting white actors as Asian characters or writing Asian characters out of popular culture altogether. It’s the beginning of a month-long campaign using the hashtag [#WhiteWashedOu](https://twitter.com/hashtag/whitewashedOUT?src=hash)t for [Asian ](http://asianpacificheritage.gov/)[Pacific ](http://asianpacificheritage.gov/)[American Heritage Month](http://asianpacificheritage.gov/) to lobby Hollywood not to whitewash roles and white actors not to take such roles. The campaign comes after two potentially blockbuster films films revealed that they had cast white actresses in Asian roles. In April, Paramount and Dreamworks [released the first picture](http://time.com/4297950/scarlett-johansson-ghost-shell-whitewashing/) of Scarlett Johansson as the Major Motoko Kusanagi in the movie adaptation of _Ghost in the Shell_, a Japanese series. The photo ignited outrage among fans who argued a Japanese actress should have been cast in the role. Then the [first trailer for _Doctor Strange_](http://time.com/4291786/doctor-strange-trailer-benedict-cumberbatch/) revealed that Tilda Swinton would be playing The Ancient One, a character who is Tibetan in the comic books. _Star Trek_ actor and activist George Tekai [took to his Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/georgehtakei/posts/1561565090539605) to express his outrage over this particular casting choice. “Let me get this straight,” Takei wrote on Facebook. “You cast a white actress so you wouldn’t hurt sales … in Asia? This back-pedalling is nearly as cringeworthy as the casting. Marvel must think we’re all idiots.” Actors such as _Fresh Off the Boat’_s [Constance Wu](https://twitter.com/ConstanceWu/status/705820098234175488) and _Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’_s [Ming-Na Wen](https://twitter.com/MingNa/status/720629012180123648) have also [criticized whitewashing and racism in Hollywood](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/asian-american-actresses-discuss-ghost-885890). As Margaret Cho pointed out in Tuesday’s tweets, Asian characters in pop culture are already scarce enough. [A study](http://annenberg.usc.edu/pages/~/media/MDSCI/Inequality%20in%20700%20Popular%20Films%2081415.ashx) conducted by the University of Southern California found that just 5% of the characters in 2014’s top 700 grossing films were Asian. (The percentage has been similarly bleak since the USC started the study in 2007.) Few Asian actors get the chance to break out of basic stereotypes about the race. And even fewer get to star in their own film or TV show: Cho herself broke ground with the first sitcom on TV about an Asian-American family, _All-American Girl_, from 1994-1995\. _Fresh Off the Boat_, which premiered last year, is only the second. Cho and others used the #WhiteWashedOut hashtag on Twitter to protest this status quo. > [](https://twitter.com/HeyPanels/status/727505640168542208) > [](https://twitter.com/margaretcho/status/727561130785185794) > [](https://twitter.com/ElloEllenOh/status/727529349520461824) > [](https://twitter.com/nicole%5Fsoojung/status/727565129592643585) > [](https://twitter.com/marjoriemliu/status/727562013338161152) > [](https://twitter.com/margaretcho/status/727559608886136832) > [](https://twitter.com/amithaknight/status/727528536941158402) > [](https://twitter.com/GeekMelange/status/727532611506180096) > [](https://twitter.com/ubeempress/status/727536640697077760) > [](https://twitter.com/thienkim/status/727530239476285440) > [](https://twitter.com/richardzwchan/status/727500423163199488) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4316844/margaret-cho-whitewashedout-asian-characters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4316844/margaret-cho-whitewashedout-asian-characters/"},"headline":"Margaret Cho and Fans Speak Out About Whitewashing Asian Characters","datePublished":"2016-05-03T20:13:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:14:33.767Z","description":"From Doctor Strange to Ghost in a Shell, Hollywood has a habit of casting white actors in Asian roles","url":"https://time.com/4316844/margaret-cho-whitewashedout-asian-characters/","keywords":["celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03cffc64ab02e2fe/698891b25f570fc481b20c29/gettyimages-506985036.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03cffc64ab02e2fe/698891b25f570fc481b20c29/gettyimages-506985036.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Logo New Now Next Honors From Aspen Gay Ski Week","caption":"Logo New Now Next Honors From Aspen Gay Ski Week","creditText":"Santiago Felipe—2016 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4316844/margaret-cho-whitewashedout-asian-characters/","name":"Margaret Cho and Fans Speak Out About Whitewashing Asian Characters"}}]}] ```