The totally awesome, widely celebrated #StarringJohnCho campaign challenges the dismal lack of diversity in Hollywood, imagining what it would look like if today's blockbusters cast an Asian American actor -- specifically John Cho -- as their leading man. Started by William Yu, the viral web project got the attention of a lot of folks, jamming social media timelines and getting mainstream news shoutouts from outlets across the board.
But what does the actual John Cho think of #StarringJohnCho?
"I thought the idea was fantastic," the Star Trek and Harold and Kumar star told Yahoo7. "I loved that it was sparking this discussion that otherwise we wouldn't be having and it did it in a postive way. It [the campaign] was kind of silly, but then people really did have that discussion, and it did get people thinking about it. I felt like it was me on the poster but it wasn't really about me. I really dig it."
Cho recently got to tell the creator of #StarringJohnCho how much he dug it -- in person. On Monday, he posted a photo he took with Yu, confirming once and for all that it wasn't his own mom behind the campaign.
.Met the creator of #starringjohncho, @its_willyu. Turns out it was not my mom. pic.twitter.com/a66SexD24k
— John Cho (@JohnTheCho) June 14, 2016
So there you have it. #StarringJohnCho is officially John Cho-approved. Have at it. That said, Photoshop is not enough! Let us look forward and push to see lots more of the real thing -- more movies and television shows starring not only John Cho, but also other talented Asian American leading men and women.