Gemma Chan and Benedict Wong call on UK government to recognise ESEA Heritage Month

A number of celebrities, including Marvel stars Gemma Chan and Benedict Wong, are calling on the British government to officially recognise East and South East Asian (ESEA) Heritage Month.

The actors, along with comedian Phil Wang and Harry Potter star Katie Leung, have thrown their support behind a campaign launched by grassroots organisation besea.n (Britain’s East and South East Asian Network).

The organisation has sent a letter to the government asking it to officially recognise ESEA Heritage Month in the UK, which will take place in September for the second year running.

Other prominent figures who have signed the open letter is Patrick Vernon OBE, convenor of Windrush75, and Nova Reid, author of anti-racism bestseller, The Good Ally.

Chan, who is British-Chinese, has previously been outspoken in her support for the ESEA community in the UK and condemned racism and hatred towards people of Asian descent during the Covid pandemic.