(Herald DB)

Hollywood actor Tom Holland is caught up in a racism controversy for his comment in a recent interview with Korean-American singer-songwriter Eric Nam. He was in town to promote his latest hero action flick “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”

In the live interview, Holland asked Nam, “You speak great English, though, man. How did you learn English?” Nam answered “I’m American. So, you know… there you go. Surprise!”

Jacob Batalon, Holland’s costar in the film who was also present during the interview, then said, “Then you learned Korean…” Nam answered. “I learned Korean when I got here.”

(Naver V app)

The July 2 interview belatedly became an issue over the weekend on social media with some calling Holland’s comment “racist.” They said that it was the first time Nam was asked such question though he has interviewed many foreign celebrities.

Others, however, argued that the critics were just overreacting. A Twitter user @lolololoooe said, “I think it can be natural to react like that if you are having an interview in Korea and the interviewer, whose appearance is close to a local, speaks fluent English.”

Some suggested a different perspective -- that Holland might have been surprised at Nam’s American accent as the British actor had had a hard time practicing an American accent for the new film.

“Spider-Man: Homecoming” was released here on July 5. Ahead of its release, director Jon Watts and actors Tom Holland and Jacob Batalon were in Korea to promote the new movie.

By Kim So-yeon (syk19372@heraldcorp.com)