Jon M Chu insists he's a fan of Brenda Song

Jon M. Chu feels "horrible" after Brenda Song claimed she wasn't allowed to audition for 'Crazy Rich Asians' because she wasn't "Asian enough".

The 40-year-old director insisted the actress' comments made "no sense" because he is a "fan" of hers and didn't need her to try out for his romantic comedy because he was already aware of her and her work.

He tweeted: "[shrug emoji] would these words ever come out of my mouth? Nope makes no sense.

"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!"

And Jon insisted it was "gross" if Brenda had received such a message from anyone connected to the film.

He tweeted in reply to a fan who had posted about the actress' comments: "

Nope. I love @BrendaSong and that sucks if anything of that nature was ever communicated. It's gross actually. 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.(sic)"

The 31-year-old star had told Teen Vogue magazine it "broke [her] heart" when she didn't get to audition for 'Crazy Rich Asians'.

She said: "A lot of people don't know this, but I never got to read for Crazy Rich Asians, ever...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. 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?' I was like, 'Where do I fit?' "