Mick Hartley

John Lithgow in Variety on playing Dumbledore in the upcoming Harry Potter series:

Asked about J.K. Rowling trans statements, he said: “I take the subject extremely seriously. She has created this amazing canon for young people and it has jumped into the consciousness of the society. It’s about good versus evil, kindness versus cruelty. I find her views ironic and inexplicable. I’ve never met her, she’s not really involved in this production at all. But the people who are, are remarkable.”

He added: “It upsets me when people are opposed to me having anything to do with this. But in ‘Potter’ canon you see no trace of transphobic sensitivity. She’s written this mediation of kindess and acceptance. And Dumbledore is a beautiful role.”

“It was a hard decision. It made me uncomfortable and unhappy that people insisted I walk away from the job. I chose not to do that.”

Oh so brave yet sensitive. Honest yet humble. But why are her views “ironic and inexplicable”? They’re certainly not inexplicable: she’s explained them very clearly on numerous occasions, but it boils down to “live your life as you want, but people can’t change sex so don’t expect everyone to play along with your fantasy”. Ironic? Because she’s a horrible transphobe yet writes such humane books?

No, it’s just Lithgow weaseling his way into the good graces of the arts world by trying to sound sympathetic and playing along with the gender crowd.

On X:

“Good grief. Lithgow, get a spine. All he had to do was say “JKR is entitled to her opinions. I thought the role was great so I took it.” Done. No need for all this hand wringing and apologizing for something that has nothing to do with him.“

“Can’t be seen to defend her, because I’m too cowardly. I reckon it’s safest to condemn her, but I’ll dress it up a bit: a confusing here, a complex there, perhaps an inexplicable would work? However this plays out, the woman writes gold dust & I’m not turning down the cheque.”