J.K. Rowling Calls People Who Don't Like the New Hermione a "Bunch of Racists"

'Harry Potter' author J.K. Rowling says that people who don't want a black woman to play Hermione are "racists."

Image via @HPPlayLDN

When the woman who created the entire franchise makes a ruling on who should be able to play one of her characters, even "a bunch of racists," as J.K. Rowling called them, should probably shut up and listen. The Harry Potter author revisited the topic of people on the internet who can't handle a black woman playing Hermione, and expanded her thoughts on the aggravating subject in a new interview with The Observer (via The Guardian).

Rowling had previously weighed in with her thoughts on Twitter after the initial backlash started over veteran stage actress Noma Dumezweni, a black woman, being announced in the role of Hermione in the upcoming production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a West End play that has broken records for ticket sales and is set to open in July. At the time, Rowling pointed out that her description of Hermione never included any details about her race.

In case that didn't make her stance clear enough, here's what Rowling told The Observer.

"I had a bunch of racists telling me that because Hermione 'turned white' -- that is, lost colour from her face after a shock -- that she must be a white woman, which I have a great deal of difficulty with. But I decided not to get too agitated about it and simply state quite firmly that Hermione can be a black woman with my absolute blessing and enthusiasm."

Does that settle it?

The story told in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child picks up 19 years after where Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows left off and finds a grown Harry working for the Ministry of Magic while his youngest son, Albus Seberus Potter, "must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted," according to the official synopsis. The script will be released in book form on July 31 marking the eighth story in the Potter series.

Latest in Pop Culture