Constance Wu is opening up about her time on “Fresh Off the Boat” from 2015-2020, alleging that she experienced sexual harassment and intimidation from an unnamed producer on the ABC comedy, per The Hollywood Reporter.
“I kept my mouth shut for a really long time about a lot of sexual harassment and intimidation that I received the first two seasons of the show,” Wu, 40, said at Friday’s Atlantic Festival in Washington DC, according to the publication. “Because, after the first two seasons, once it was a success, once I was no longer scared of losing my job, that’s when I was able to start saying ‘no’ to the harassment, ‘no’ to the intimidation, from this particular producer. And, so I thought: ‘You know what? I handled it. Nobody has to know. I don’t have to stain this Asian American producer’s reputation. I don’t have to stain the reputation of the show.'”
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Wu – who played Huang family matriarch Jessica on the series – called the experience “traumatic,” adding, “I eventually realised it was important to talk about because I did have a traumatic experience my first couple years on that show and nobody knew about it because that show was historic for Asian Americans. It was the only show on network television in over 20 years to star Asian Americans and I did not want to sully the reputation of the one show we had representing us.”
“Fresh Off the Boat” made history as the longest-running sitcom about Asian Americans in broadcast TV before it ultimately ended with its sixth season in 2020. When the show’s season six renewal was first announced in 2019, Wu received backlash for the tweets she shared in response to the news. In a now-deleted tweet, Wu wrote, “So upset right now that I’m literally crying. Ugh. F*ck.” And when a fan congratulated Wu on the “great news” on Twitter, she replied, “No, it’s not,” followed by, “F*cking hell.”
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Wu addressed the backlash at the Atlantic Festival as well. According to THR, she said, “I wanted to have a fresh slate where I didn’t have to start a show with all these memories of abuse. A few people knew [the harassment] was happening, and to go to work every day and see those people who knew that he was sexually harassing me being ‘buddy-buddy’ with him felt like a betrayal every time.” Wu added: “I loved everybody on that crew, and I loved working on that show, but it had that history of abuse, that it started with, and even though I handled it after two years, I was looking forward to a clean slate.”
When reached for comment, reps for Wu directed POPSUGAR to her upcoming memoir. POPSUGAR has not yet reviewed the memoir, “Making a Scene,” out Oct. 5. Wu also addressed the alleged sexual harassment in a profile with The New York Times published last week.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault or harassment, you can contact 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 and find support services and free online counselling at Full Stop Australia on 1800 385 578.
