Reporter Kjersti Flaa responded to accusations she made a rude and allegedly racist remark towards 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald' actress Claudia Kim (Soo Hyun).
On November 7, Kjersti Flaa posted an interview with 'Fantastic Beasts' stars Ezra Miller and Claudia Kim, but some viewers and fans were upset by one of her statements. The reporter asked about the two actors' first experience with the book series, and Soo Hyun responded, "Middle school, Korea. I asked my Dad's friend to get me the book from the US."
The reporter then responded in surprise, "Ooh, but you read it in English, then? So you did speak English? That's cool." The statement made for an awkward moment, and Ezra Miller spoke up, saying, "She still does even now speak English. Very well." Her apparent surprise and assumption on the actress' English language skills have caused some backlash.
Kjersti Flaa has now posted on Instagram, expressing her thoughts on her allegedly racist remark. She posted to Instagram, "Since I posted my interview with her and Ezra Miller I have realized that something I asked her came off in a way that was never intentionally meant as being anything else but curiosity, but it has later been brought to my attention that it sounded ignorant... I have received a lot of emails with extremely unpleasant threats to me and my family after several sources are calling me racist and other terrible things. I have been totally heart broken by everything that has happened. All I wanted to do was make a great interview with her and Ezra and I am sorry to everyone that was disappointed. Now, please spread some love into this world instead of fueling it with more hatred. And if you read this Claudia, please forgive me if I offended you."
Read her full statement below, and let us know your thoughts on the situation in the comments!
On November 7, Kjersti Flaa posted an interview with 'Fantastic Beasts' stars Ezra Miller and Claudia Kim, but some viewers and fans were upset by one of her statements. The reporter asked about the two actors' first experience with the book series, and Soo Hyun responded, "Middle school, Korea. I asked my Dad's friend to get me the book from the US."
The reporter then responded in surprise, "Ooh, but you read it in English, then? So you did speak English? That's cool." The statement made for an awkward moment, and Ezra Miller spoke up, saying, "She still does even now speak English. Very well." Her apparent surprise and assumption on the actress' English language skills have caused some backlash.
Kjersti Flaa has now posted on Instagram, expressing her thoughts on her allegedly racist remark. She posted to Instagram, "Since I posted my interview with her and Ezra Miller I have realized that something I asked her came off in a way that was never intentionally meant as being anything else but curiosity, but it has later been brought to my attention that it sounded ignorant... I have received a lot of emails with extremely unpleasant threats to me and my family after several sources are calling me racist and other terrible things. I have been totally heart broken by everything that has happened. All I wanted to do was make a great interview with her and Ezra and I am sorry to everyone that was disappointed. Now, please spread some love into this world instead of fueling it with more hatred. And if you read this Claudia, please forgive me if I offended you."
Read her full statement below, and let us know your thoughts on the situation in the comments!
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Pple are really just trying hard to be offended. Claudia grew up in a non-english speaking country, so its not an offensive question, its basically 'wow its cool u know two languages at a young age'
I'd be surprised/amazed too if someone who grew up in UK or other english countries read/understood french novels at a young age.
p.s: wont be surprised if these are the same pple that get pissed & say koreans shouldn't be expected to know english well, when reporters say kpop stars english is bad (i still think those reporters are rude.)