The pinnacle of HBO is talking out following backlash over J.K. Rowling‘s newest anti-transgender feedback.
Casey Bloys, the CEO of the community, weighed in on the Harry Potter writer’s involvement within the upcoming HBO series on the April 30 episode of The Town podcast, days after Nicola Coughlan and Pedro Pascal each slammed Rowling, 59, for her support of the U.K. Supreme Court ruling that trans women are not legally women.
“The choice to be in enterprise with J.Okay. Rowling shouldn’t be new for us. We’ve been in enterprise for 25 years,” Bloys mentioned on the podcast, after he was requested if he is continuously monitoring the writer’s X account to see what else she posts.
“We have already got a present on HBO from her known as C.B. Strike that we do with the BBC.”
Because it pertains to the upcoming collection adaptation of her bestselling e-book collection — which Rowling serves as an executive producer on — Bloys clarified, “Harry Potter shouldn’t be being secretly infused with something.”
“I believe it’s fairly clear that these are her private political opinions. She’s entitled to them,” he added. “And if you wish to debate her, you may go on Twitter.”
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Rowling first faced backlash in 2020 over anti-transgender comments she made on X, which has since then develop into a frequent level of battle for most of the Harry Potter film stars. Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe all spoke out in support of the transgender community rapidly afterwards.
Controversy over the writer has once more caught steam amid HBO’s growth of the brand new Harry Potter collection, in addition to in response to her April tweets, which Pascal slammed as “awful” and disgusting” as he called Rowling a “heinous loser.”
John Lithgow, who will play the iconic Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the series, did not have a really robust stance on the topic, although.
He informed The Times that he “completely” did “not” anticipate to face questions in regards to the writer’s political opinions when he took on the function, and instead found himself wondering, “Why is this a factor at all?”
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“I’m wondering how J.Okay. Rowling has absorbed it. I suppose at a sure level I’ll meet her and I’m curious to speak to her,” Lithgow, 79, mentioned.
When requested point-blank if the backlash made him rethink the gig, he mentioned, “Oh, heavens no.”