Mick Hartley

Hadley Freeman interviews actor John Lithgow:

After playing Roald Dahl at his most antisemitic in the phenomenal play Giant, which has transferred from the Royal Court theatre to the West End, John Lithgow thought he knew everything about being a vilified author. Then it was announced that he will play Dumbledore in HBO’s forthcoming ten-season Harry Potter series.

“I hadn’t intended to show you this. I’m not even sure I should,” Lithgow, 79, says, adjusting his black-rimmed spectacles as he scrolls through his phone. He shows me a text from a friend, a link to an article titled An Open Letter to John Lithgow: Please Walk Away from Harry Potter. The article claims that JK Rowling is “anti-trans” and “attacked trans kids directly, saying ‘There are no trans kids. No child “is born in the wrong body”.’” Meanwhile, over on Lithgow’s normally cheerful Instagram account, there are endless comments from people telling him the same thing — that to act in something connected to Rowling is analogous to donning a Ku Klux Klan hood.

Lithgow is, commendably, unmoved.

Meanwhile, Lithgow is still puzzling on something. “No one complained when I agreed to play Dahl, but I’ve received so many messages about JK Rowling. Isn’t that odd?”

Well, at the risk of sounding glib: antisemitism is no big deal nowadays in the right progressive circles, though "anti-Zionism" sounds better. Being anti-trans, though? It doesn't get any worse than that.