John Lithgow is opening up about backlash.
The 79-year-old actor spoke to The Times on Sunday (April 27), addressing the response he’s received for joining HBO‘s upcoming Harry Potter series amid J.K. Rowling‘s anti-trans crusade.
“Of course, it was a big decision because it’s probably the last major role I’ll play,” he said.
“It’s an eight-year commitment so I was just thinking about mortality and that this is a very good winding-down role,” he continued.
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John is set to play Professor Albus Dumbledore, and said he “absolutely” didn’t expect to get so much criticism for taking on the role.
However, before he took on the role, he received a letter from “a very good friend who is the mother of a trans child,” titled “An Open Letter to John Lithgow: Please Walk Away from Harry Potter.”
“That was the canary in the coal mine,” he said.
“I thought, ‘Why is this a factor at all?’ I wonder how J.K. Rowling has absorbed it. I suppose at a certain point I’ll meet her, and I’m curious to talk to her.”
When asked if the backlash has made him reconsider joining the cast, he said: “Oh, heavens no.”
The author has tirelessly worked against the trans community for years. Most recently, J.K. celebrated the U.K.’s Supreme Court ruling that trans women should not be recognized as women under the Equality Act.
Many actors in the Harry Potter universe have criticized J.K. Rowling for her anti-trans sentiments.
