John Lithgow Faces Backlash For “Guilty by Association” With Harry Potter Author J.K. Rowling

Television

There is never a dull moment in the news when it comes to J.K. Rowling, regardless of whether she herself makes a comment about the trans movement or someone is so much as associated with her in any way, or even actor Pedro Pascal’s recent comments about the author being a “heinous loser” in the wake of the Equality Act ruling in the UK Supreme Court. In this case, actor John Lithgow faces backlash for his upcoming role as Dumbledore (not even for being American, considering how JKR has been firm in the past about casting only British actors) in the HBO Max Harry Potter series, but for Jo Rowling’s single view of believing the reality of sex: that a man is a man and a woman is a woman. 

It’s honestly shocking how, even with the upset from sane fans with the recent confirmation from HBO of race swap Severus Snape, the online army of Rowling haters haven’t said a peep about Paapa Essiedu being involved in the project, for shouldn’t any other actor associated face the same backlash? 

In a recent in-person interview with The Times, Lithgow showed a text from a friend that was a link to an article entitled, An Open Letter to John Lithgow: Please Walk Away from Harry Potter. 

The article in question says that J.K. Rowling is “anti-trans” and “attacked trans kids directly, stating she believes ‘There are no trans kids. No child “is born in the wrong body”.’” Lithgow also faces similar crude comments on his “normally cheerful Instagram account,” accusing the actor that to be associated in any way with Jo Rowling is “analogous to donning a Ku Klux Klan hood” or a certain inverted Sanskrit cross. In response to the outrage, Lithgow said,

“I thought, why is this a factor at all? I wonder how JK Rowling has absorbed it. I suppose at a certain point I’ll meet her and I’m curious to talk to her.”

However, Lithgow is no stranger to such controversy, having played the author Roald Dahl in the play Giant, which depicts the fallout after the children’s author wrote a scathing article criticizing Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 where he calls Jews as “barbarous murderers.”

The actor’s response to all the backlash then regarding Dahl as a “monster” for his remarks is simple enough: 

“But that’s my job… Dahl wasn’t a monster covered in scales — he was a very complicated man damaged by terrible tragedies.” 

The whole point of art is to step outside the box, not to be pinned down by rules or regulations. In this day and age, artists in the mainstream are forbidden from doing the things they once did, even a mere decade ago. Humans are complex creatures, far from perfect, and indeed have our fair share of regrets; however, that’s what makes us human beings. How can any of us relate to characters if they don’t possess any scars, visible or not? These recent cardboard cutouts in film or even novels are boring a majority of the audience, therefore, many are retreating to old media instead of consuming the modern-day slop from Hollywood and traditional publishing to boot. 

It’s difficult to get excited for anything new in the 21st Century due to activists and the corporate overlords bowing down to a single, zero-followers account on X from a comment said account made about how upset they are over the smallest detail that happened to trigger their “fee-fees.” As beloved as Harry Potter is, there is not much hope that the new show will be a breakout success in terms of pleasing old fans with being a “faithful adaptation”—which was a false statement from HBO at the start, probably in an attempt to butter up the loyal fans in hopes that this series (which, quite frankly,w had great potential to be even better than the films by being able to tell the FULL story) would be a smash hit in terms of accuracy, but that, sadly, perished with the single casting of a prominent character to the whole plot. 

Now, all eyes watch who HBO will cast as the Golden Trio, which will also make or break this series. It’s also interesting how J.K. Rowling herself has been eerily silent on the casting, aside from making one brief statement at the start being pleased with the choice of showrunners/writers. It continues to beg the question of whether she still cares about this IP that has made her great fame and fortune. Once Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published back in 2007, she stated in her documentary entitled, A Year in the Life, which followed her behind the scenes of her writing the final Potter book and where she revealed much of her childhood and life growing up in general, her struggles financially and mentally, having suffered from depression, which was the inspiration for the Dementors) before a publisher finally picked the manuscript for Philosopher’s Stone.  Rowling firmly stated that she was “done” with Harry Potter and that there would be no future novels set in the Wizarding World, despite the interviewer gently suggesting as she went over the family trees of the characters that “this could be another book.” 

Now, the floor is open to all of you. What are your thoughts on this recent “guilty-by-association controversy”? Are there any fans still out there excited/hopeful or, sadly, as many of us are, feeling quite lackluster and defeated over the diminished potential this series could’ve had? Please leave your comments down below!

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