J.K. Rowling Forced To Weigh In After Harry Potter Play Casts Actress Who Is Black To Play Hermione
Some people are freaking out after a London production of a Harry Potter play casts an actress who is Black to play Hermione.
You might think that, given it’s nearly 2016, and Harry Potter is an entirely fictional story about magic and wizards that the color of an actor’s skin would be irrelevant, or at least, not something to freak out over. Apparently, some are furious that a London production of a Harry Potter play, “Harry Potter And The Cursed Child,” has cast Noma Dumezweni to play Hermione.
We’re thrilled to confirm Jamie Parker, Noma Dumezweni & Paul Thornley will play Harry, Hermione & Ron #CursedChild pic.twitter.com/s1rsDbrXMO
— Harry Potter Play (@HPPlayLDN) December 21, 2015
In the Harry Potter films, Hermione is played by Emma Watson, who is white. Noma Dumezweni (above) is Black.
J.K. Rowling, who created Harry Potter, wrote all the Harry Potter books and was intimately involved in the Harry Potter films, Monday morning was forced to tweet that she’s A-OK with Hermione being Black:
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
Some fans even with Rowling supporting the change couldn’t seem to let it go:
@jk_rowling seriously jo. if hermione is black, why didn’t you tell them to cast a black girl for the movies??
— juliette de sécillon (@jdesecillon) December 21, 2015
I suppose it fits in with the racial replacement of whites that we’re seeing. #thegreatreplacement @jk_rowling @mauvedust @goldregulus
— ánstapa (@blagmatic) December 21, 2015
@jk_rowling @mauvedust @goldregulus umm pic.twitter.com/C9ePuMOG2E
— t (@tobsdv) December 21, 2015
@jk_rowling so why didn’t you explicitly state in the books that she was black…….
— Remy Hadley (@buckythirteen) December 21, 2015
Fuck u @jk_rowling WHO WANTS A NIGGA HERMIONE FUCK U SO HARD
— Gerard (@funzzaking) December 21, 2015
Fortunately, the vast majority now seem to support the production’s choice of Dumezweni, and of Rowling’s blessing on the subject:
@jk_rowling my awe of you grows deeper every tweet. Seriously.
— Hayli (@HayliNic) December 21, 2015
As twitter erupts over a ‘Black’ Hermione, re-read this by @djolder https://t.co/31nIRI0NmT h/ @PinkCottonMom pic.twitter.com/MGqXIwPmfr
— Mark Elliott (@markmobility) December 21, 2015
And, as Mashable discovered, one offered the perfect smack down:
I love how Hermione being black is somehow more implausible to some people than a universe where the entire postal system depends on owls
— Snukes (@QueerDiscOx) December 20, 2015
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Image by Harry Potter Play via Twitter

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