Thread by @rafaelshimunov

So @jonstewart recently broke Hollywood's complete silence on @jk_rowling unapologetically maintaining antisemitic folklore through Harry Potter.

The scene Jon Stewart is referencing was shared by me in 2018, when Rowling was smearing the left as antisemites and only beginning to embrace her infamous anti trans views. Harry walks over a bank adorned with Jewish Stars, to greedy Goblins side locks.

If you'd like to see how Youtube users respond to clips of JK Rowling's bank scenes, they're dominated by antisemites lavishing praise on JK Rowling.

In total fairness, goblin mythology as antisemitic tropes predates all of us, including JK Rowling. But across Harry Potter novels, JK uses her freedom to reinvent almost anything. But as Jon Stewart points out, the antisemitic tropes maintained.

Later in the Harry Potter series, they remove the sidelocks from the goblins and the Jewish stars from the bank (which preexisted in London's High Commission of Australia building). And they're not part of the new theme park in London, but the sidelocks remain.

JK Rowling is definitely anti trans and a hateful, petty person. As far as I know, she's not an antisemite. However, this was perpetuating antisemitism, and she did so while attacking others as antisemites on our behalf while demonstrating zero knowledge of it.

I used to be as shocked as @jonstewart at how little there was in response to the antisemitic aspects of Harry Potter. But recently, learning Mel Gibson's booked in Hollywood for years as an unapologetic nazi, I learned my standards are too high.

Thread:

https://twitter.com/rafaelshimunov/status/1450228940442849283

What sparked this thread on antisemitism in Harry Potter was yet another issue around JK Rowling's choices. Character names: especially those who are not English. Namely "Cho Chang" for the Asian and a slave derived name for the Black character.

https://twitter.com/Always_Khanyisa/status/1477534461340311553

And, a lesson that keeps surfacing in all of this is that very few heard Black and brown people raise flags about casting first. And those who raised the vilification of fat people. Which almost always is the front door to so much more later on.

Here is Pete Davidson calling JK Rowling out for antisemitism in Harry Potter in 2020.

Thanks for the heads up @mcgarrygirl78

It's true that most writers aren't influential on sets of movies. But JK's a screenwriter + billionaire who was present and able to force studios to keep scenes she chose. Protective of every detail. Even in her spinoff, her contract gives her unprecedented powers as a writer.

As far as "cancel culture"

It would be cool if it was simply not ignored, and repaired in the future. It would be cool if this lesson could also extend to trans and gnc people she routinely endangers, as well as Black, Asian and other people her writings have taken swipes at.

Some recurring criticism of this thread is that I was too kind to Rowling in assuming goblins were largely depicted as antisemitic characters long before our generations. I think it's a really fair question and would love to learn more.

https://twitter.com/SecretGamerGrrl/status/1478078827146452994

Oops I am so so sorry Jon Stewart 🙃

Jon’s podcast on this was 2 weeks ago 🙈