Another weekend, another stupid Twitter controversy.
Yesterday the producers of the new play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, opening in London this summer, announced the casting of the lead roles of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Jamie Parker, Paul Thornley and Noma Dumezweni will play the three iconic characters.
Some people on Twitter were turned off by the fact that Ms. Dumezweni is black, using the “I’m not racist, but…” argument to cover themselves:
Most tweeters, however (including one ingenious gif-maker) were overjoyed by the news and took those critical of the casting choice to task:
"It's nothing personal I just can't picture Hermione as bl-" pic.twitter.com/oxzpX2Pup4
— Seb FoxAllen (@purpledocket) December 21, 2015
"Actually, technically Hermione's paren-" pic.twitter.com/ND7zMNh3vI
— Seb FoxAllen (@purpledocket) December 21, 2015
"Why can't Hermione just be wh-" pic.twitter.com/x374T6L3LN
— Seb FoxAllen (@purpledocket) December 21, 2015
https://twitter.com/DonNohVarr/status/678969749955457024
https://twitter.com/Doctob/status/678976893211815937
Think outrage over the Hermione casting is very fair, given how hard it was for white actors to get cast in the Harry Potter films.
— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) December 21, 2015
There are ppl on my Facebook timeline mad a POC is playing Hermione in a play.
Fool. I known u ur whole life. You never been to a play.
— Angel of Hope (@Revisedangel) December 21, 2015
https://twitter.com/QueerDiscOx/status/678712712784912384
https://twitter.com/rickburin/status/678980277490884610
Any and all criticism of Ms. Dumezweni’s casting was rendered moot, however, thanks to J.K. Rowling, who not only wrote the Harry Potter books but is co-writing Cursed Child:
Canon: brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever. White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione 😘 https://t.co/5fKX4InjTH
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 21, 2015
Matthew Lewis, who played Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films, also defended Ms. Dumezweni:
And Neville Longbottom was blonde. I really don't care. Good luck to her. https://t.co/0JNjK3Pe0V
— 🇺🇦Matthew Lewis🇺🇦 (@Mattdavelewis) December 21, 2015
Some commentators responded humorously to the Cursed Child criticism: British writer Hanna Flint took a tongue in cheek view of the whole situation, writing an editorial about how the play’s casting was all wrong—because Mr. Thornley is not a redhead. Thank goodness for wigs!
