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\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Avantika<\/strong><\/a> is opening up about racially-charged comments about her following the release of the Mean Girls<\/strong><\/a><\/em> trailer back in November.<\/p>\n The almost 19-year-old actress stars in the new movie musical as the ditzy Karen, who was played by Amanda Seyfried<\/strong><\/a> in the original movie 20 years ago.<\/p>\n After the trailer debuted, Avantika<\/strong> was met with racist comments about her casting, and now, she\u2019s reacting to the negative things people said.<\/p>\n Keep reading to find out more\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf anybody says anything about my acting, I\u2019m like \u2018please tell me more.\u2019 If you don\u2019t feel like you\u2019re connecting to the character on screen, I should know,\u201d she told Teen Vogue<\/a><\/em>. \u201cBut if you\u2019re talking about how you can smell the character from the screen, you\u2019re simply an ignorant person and a bigot, and there\u2019s nothing I can do about that. I thought it was funny how the movie was called Mean Girls<\/em> and everybody was being a mean girl on Twitter.\u201d <\/p>\n Avantika<\/strong> also opened up about working with writer Tina Fey<\/strong><\/a> to change her character\u2019s name from Karen Smith to Karen Shetty to reflect her own South Indian heritage.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a rare occasion in which South Indians, specifically someone of Telugu heritage, could get representation,\u201d she said. \u201cI told Tina<\/strong> [to name her Shetty] and the next day it was in the script.\u201d<\/p>\n If you didn\u2019t know, Avantika<\/strong> had quite the Bollywood career, appearing in seven films, before landing roles in the US. She has been in Disney Junior\u2019s Mira, Royal Detective<\/em> and the Disney+ series Diary of a Future President<\/em>. She also starred in the Disney movie Spin<\/a><\/em>, as well as Netflix\u2019s Senior Year. Next up on her slate is a movie called Horrorscope<\/em><\/a>!<\/p>\n Get to know 10 Fun Facts <\/em>about Avantika<\/strong> here\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n If you missed it, Avantika<\/strong> recently met the original Karen, Amanda Seyfried<\/strong>, and the two recreated a Mean Girls<\/em> moment<\/a> together!<\/p>\n