'Crazy Rich Asians' director voices love for Brenda Song amid audition drama

Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu is voicing his love for Brenda Song amid drama about the actress not receiving an audition for the film.

Chu, 40, spoke out in series of tweets Wednesday after Song, 31, said in an interview that she was told she was "not Asian enough" to audition for the 2018 movie.

"??Nope. I love @BrendaSong and that sucks if anything of that nature was ever communicated. It's gross actually," Chu wrote. "The fact is, obviously I know who she is and didn't need her to audition. I'm a fan of hers! Nothing more nothing less. Bums me out she thought it was anything but."

"would these words ever come out of my mouth? Nope makes no sense," he added in another tweet. "I feel horrible she thinks this is the reason. The fact is I love Brenda Song and am a fan. I didn't need her to audition because I already knew who she was!"

Song, who is known for playing the title character in Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior and London Tipton on the Disney Channel series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, said in an interview with Teen Vogue published Wednesday that she never got to read for Crazy Rich Asians.

"Their reasoning behind that, what they said was that my image was basically not Asian enough, in not so many words. It broke my heart," the actress said.

"I said, 'This character is in her late to mid-20s, an Asian American, and I can't even audition for it? I've auditioned for Caucasian roles my entire career, but this specific role, you're not going to let me do it? You're going to fault me for having worked my whole life?'" she recalled. "I was like, 'Where do I fit?'"

Crazy Rich Asians, starring Constance Wu and Henry Golding, is based on the Kevin Kwan novel of the same name. The film was a critical and financial success, earning over $238 million on a $30 million budget.

Song presently stars on the Hulu series Dollface, which premiered last week.