New ‘Harry Potter’ Actor Refuses To Be JK Rowling’s ‘Mouthpiece’ Amid Backlash Over Pro…

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New ‘Harry Potter’ Actor Refuses To Be JK Rowling’s ‘Mouthpiece’ Amid Backlash Over Problematic Comments

Actor Paapa Essiedu, who will play Severus Snape in HBO's upcoming "Harry Potter" remake, recently spoke out about the backlash author JK Rowling has continued to face after making problematic comments about feminism and transgender rights. In a new interview, the actor pushed back against the idea that he needed to separate himself from the series entirely because of Rowling's views. "I have been super clear about my position on this topic," he said, adding that he refused to be labeled Rowling's "mouthpiece" despite his affiliation with the upcoming series.

Speaking with Vanity Fair, Essiedu said he wasn't interested in fanning the flame or discussing Rowling's views as his new series approaches. "I'm really keen not to make a kind of 'them and us' dynamic here. I'm not really here to speak about Jo's politics or to be a mouthpiece for her," he said. "I can only be really, really clear about what I believe and be consistent with that."

Paapa Essiedu, Harry Potter’s New Snape, Is Ready for Questions

When Paapa Essiedu was just 25 years old, he was cast as Hamlet by the Royal Shakespeare Company. In an instant, he joined the ranks of all-time greats like Ben Kingsley, Kenneth Branagh, and Mark Rylance. “I still remember the day that my agent rang me up and told me I’d got that job,” he says 11 years later. “I was gassed about it for about three seconds. And then I was like, ‘Fuck, what have I done?’”

Critics loved Essiedu as the Danish prince. “It was good,” he says casually of his star-making performance. Yet his casting provoked headlines for another reason: He was the first Black actor to play Hamlet at the RSC. “There was this—not even fascination—this obsession with the fact that I was a Black person who was doing it,” he recalls.

‘Harry Potter’ Star Paapa Essiedu Says ‘I Don’t Want to Talk About’ J.K. Rowling ‘At All’ but ‘Trans People Have the Right to Be Treated With Respect and Dignity’

HBO‘s “Harry Potter” showrunner Francesca Gardiner is condemning the “abuse” being directed at Paapa Essiedu, the “I May Destroy You” Emmy nominee who is taking over the role of Professor Severus Snape in the first television series adaptation of J.K. Rowling‘s literary franchise. Essiedu has been outspoken since March about the racism he’s been facing online from toxic fans upset with the casting of a Black actor in the role.

“It’s appalling that anyone should be subjected to that kind of abuse in any circumstances,” Gardiner told Vanity Fair as part of a new profile on the actor. “He has handled it with incredible grace, and I have nothing but the greatest respect for him…. Paapa has absolutely nailed the role, and it is that performance that deserves our attention.”

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