J.K. Rowling Just Fired Back at Fans Who Complained About a Black Hermione
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Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling deftly swatted down critics who complained about her beloved character Hermione Granger being played by a Black actress in the play "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child."
The famous author didn't mince words in an interview with The Observer Sunday.
"I had a bunch of racists telling me that because Hermione ‘turned white’ – that is, lost colour from her face after a shock – that she must be a white woman, which I have a great deal of difficulty with," Rowling said about the reaction to the casting.
"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," a new play that picks up the story of Rowling's best-selling "Harry Potter" series of books, will star award-winning Black actress Noma Dumezweni as the studious heroine when it opens in London's West End in July.
Some people had a problem with the casting of the character, who appeared in the film version of the books as a white girl and woman, played by Emma Watson.
Rowling responded beautifully at the time, tweeting that Hermione's race was never specified in the books.
Her newest response hasn't changed much, except perhaps in tone.
"With my experience of social media, I thought that idiots were going to idiot. But what can you say? That's the way the world is," said the author frankly.
Rowling added: "But I decided not to get too agitated about it and simply state quite firmly that Hermione can be a Black woman with my absolute blessing and enthusiasm."
