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HARRY'S GIRL TARGETED BY HATE SITES Apr 11 2005
Ordeal of Katie, 17, who gets to kiss film's star
By Lee-Ann Fullerton
HATE-FILLED websites have sprung up attacking Harry Potter actress
Katie Leung.
Messages slagging off the 17-year-old have been posted by fans of
the boy wizard.
Katie, of Motherwell, Lanarkshire, beat 4000 other girls at an
audition in Glasgow to win the role of Harry's girlfriend.
But before the film has even premiered, she has experienced the
downside of fame.
Jealous fans have started a Hate-Katie site on the internet just
because she gets to kiss Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter And The
Goblet Of Fire film.
Messages branding her ugly - some even with racist comments - have
been posted on some sites.
The teenager stars as Harry's girlfriend Cho Chang in the film
which is due to be released in November.
But spiteful girl fans say she is not right for the role.
Katie's dad Peter said the attacks are frightening for him and his
family.
He said: 'I have seen these sites.
'I have looked at every one of them.
'It is rather frightening when you see things like 'hate Kate'It is
incredible really. I can't make sense of it, although I know how
popular Harry Potter is.
'Katie is only 17 and hasn't even appeared on film.
'No one knows her, has seen her or heard her speak, yet there are
these things on the internet.
'Unfortunately, I know she has seen them too. She reads them all
and it is a great pressure on her.
'I cannot even think what may happen when the film eventually comes
out.
'In a way I'm dreading it.'
Katie won the part last year after a worldwide search for an
unknown actress.
She landed the role ahead of former Neighbours star Michelle Ang at
a Glasgow audition in February.
At the time, her dad, sister and two brothers said it was a dream
job. But some fans are not happy at the casting.
One message says: 'I've hated Katie Leung ever since I saw
her.'
Another reads: 'I hate her because she is stupid, dumb, an idiot
and gets to play Cho Chang in the Goblet Of Fire. Oh and she gets
to kiss Daniel Radcliffe.'
Warner Bros, who make the Harry Potter films, have tried to shield
Katie ahead of the release of the movie.
It is not the first time she has had to deal with obsessed Potter
fans.
When her role was first announced, she had people camped outside
her house in a bid to get a glimpse of her.
Fake pictures were also posted on the internet.
Peter said then: 'I'm very proud of her but it is all very sudden,
all very strange and very confusing
