Margaret Cho (Photo by Mary Taylor)

Tilda Swinton has released the email exchange between herself and bisexual comedian Margaret Cho following Cho’s criticism over whitewashing in Marvel’s “Dr. Strange.”

Swinton plays the Ancient One, a guru who helps Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), cultivate his spiritual powers. In the Marvel comics, the Ancient One is an Asian man but was changed to a Celtic woman for the movie.

In an interview for the podcast TigerBelly, Cho explains that Swinton emailed her to discuss the issues with whitewashing canon Asian characters. Swinton asked for Cho’s point of view but insisted the emails stay private. For Cho, the email exchange was unsettling.

“It was weird because I felt like a house Asian, like I’m her servant,” Cho says. “Like the ones when they have in the raj, they would have the house servant who was your confidante… The servant that was close to you. That’s sort of what I felt like, like I was following her with an umbrella. I had a weird feeling about the entire exchange, especially the part of, ‘Don’t tell anybody.’”

In response, Swinton released the email exchange to Jezebel.

“The diversity debate – ALL STRENGTH to it – has come knocking at the door of Marvel’s new movie DR STRANGE,” Swinton writes in her initial email. “I would really love to hear your thoughts and have a – private – conversation about it. Are you up for this? Can we e-mail?” the message continues.

Cho responds saying that she is a “big fan” of Swinton and would explain her viewpoints.

“The character you played in Dr Strange was originally written as a Tibetan man and so there’s a frustrated population of Asian Americans who feel the role should have gone to a person of Asian descent,” Cho writes. “The larger part of the debate has to do with the ‘whitewashing’ of Asian and Asian Americans in film. Our stories are told by white actors over and over again and we feel at a loss to know how to cope with it.”

Swinton replied by saying Marvel made the decision to make the character a Celtic woman “in a conscious effort to shake up stereotypes” and “wanted to avoid tired cliché.” She continues that changing the gender of the character was an effort to include more diversity for women in the film.

Cho has since responded with a statement released to EW stating that she still thinks her argument is valid.

“Asian actors should play Asian roles. I believe my emails stand on their own and should be taken for the spirit in which they were intended. I am grateful that the debate has now entered the national discussion and remain a huge fan of Tilda’s,” Cho says in the statement.