Gemma Chan condemns British newspaper for trivializing 'casual racism' in Prince Philip report

• In an article, the Sunday Times said the British public enjoyed Prince Phillip's racist comments.
• Gemma Chan said the article "trivialized" racism.
• She called for the newspaper to issue an apology and retract the article.

"Crazy Rich Asians" actor Gemma Chan has posted multiple statements to her social media accounts condemning a front-page tribute to Prince Phillip published in The Sunday Times, which suggested that the British public "secretly enjoyed" some of the late duke's past racist comments.

In the front-page article, The Sunday Times' Chief Correspondent Christina Lamb wrote: "To her subjects, Prince Philip was the longest-serving consort in British history - an often crotchety figure, offending people with gaffes about slitty eyes, even if secretly we rather enjoyed them."

Here Lamb was referencing racist comments the duke made during a state visit to China in 1986, where he told British university students who were studying Mandarin in the country that if they stayed much longer, "you'll go home with slitty eyes."

Chan posted a photograph of the article to her Instagram account with the caption: "Front page of @thetimes yesterday. The fact that this was written by a journalist who should know better, approved by editors, and sent to print. To trivialize casual racism in the most widely read Sunday broadsheet at a point when the Asian diaspora is experiencing a surge of attacks is deeply irresponsible."

"We need more people of color in newsrooms," Chan continued before sharing a petition for the newspaper to print an apology and retract the article.

A post shared by Gemma Chan (@gemma_chan)

The Sunday Times has omitted the comment about "slitty eyes" in the online version of its story and on Tuesday, the newspaper's editor, Emma Tucker, issued a statement to The Guardian apologizing. She said: "This so-called 'gaffe' made by Prince Philip was a well-known aspect of his life story. The Sunday Times did not intend to condone it. It was noted by us on Saturday night that the sentence was offensive and it was not published in digital editions."

The statement continued: "Christina Lamb has spent her whole career reporting on discrimination and injustices against people in every part of the world and never intended to make light of his remark in any way."

The Duke of Edinburgh was known for making racist and sexist comments, which have often been described as "gaffes" in the British press

Over 20,000 people signed the petition calling for The Sunday Times to publish an apology for the article. In the open letter that accompanies the petition, the authors write: "Portraying the nation as a collective 'we' that 'secretly' enjoys racist and derogatory slurs at the expense of ethnic groups is insensitive at best, and encouraging racist violence at worst."