Darren Criss thinks it’d be ‘unfair’ to identify as Asian-American

Darren Criss‘ is half-Filipino, but don’t call him an Asian-American.

The 31-year-old actor is receiving critical acclaim for his role in “American Crime Story,” where he plays Andrew Cunanan, the serial killer best known for the 1997 murder of Gianni Versace, whose father was Filipino and mother was Italian.

When asked by Vulture if he identifies as Asian-American, Criss said, “No. I think that’d be unfair. I think that’d sound like I’m reaching for the minority card on a college application. I think that would be unfair. Yeah, my mom’s Asian-American. She’s from the Philippines and came here and then married a white guy, and here I am.”

He also brought up that his half-Filipino heritage never played a part in his casting process. “I always say one of my favorite things about myself is that I’m half-Filipino but I don’t look like it,” Criss said. “I just look like a Caucasian guy, which is nice. I’ve got the multi-ethnic thing going on. People think I’m like Italian or Mediterranean.”

His response has drawn mixed reactions on social media.

“I’m having difficulty trying to reconcile how he feels both proud of his heritage but also doesn’t claim it?” wrote one Twitter user. “It’s a bit disconcerting to me.”

Meanwhile, Criss took to Twitter to clarify his statement.

“1 of my favorite things about myself is that I’m half Filipino,” he wrote. “I happen to not look like it, but THAT fact is not what I like.”

According to a 2015 study by the University of California, 13 percent of subjects who identify as Filipino have European ancestry. Meanwhile, the 2016 US census reported that 2.1 million Americans identify as white and Asian.