Jewish figures and groups defend “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling after comedian Jon Stewart alleged the author’s goblin characters were clearly antisemitic.
Dave Rich, the director of policy for the UK-based Jewish nonprofit Community Security Trust, tweets that “sometimes a goblin is just a goblin.”
Rich tells the Hollywood Reporter that he does not believe Rowling “is an antisemite or is responsible for creating antisemitic caricatures. There is nothing in her record to suggest that she holds antisemitic views: quite the opposite in fact as she has spoken out consistently and repeatedly in support of the Jewish community and against antisemitism.”
David Baddiel, a British Jewish comedian and prominent voice against antisemitism, also weighs in.
“The goblins in Harry Potter need to be seen not in a simplistic #teamRowling vs #antiteamRowling way but in a many-centuries long, deeply subconsciously embedded cultural context,” he tweets.
Rowling herself has not weighed in on the controversy yet.
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