Harry Potter Scribe J.K. Rowling Faces Backlash After Describing Jude Law’s Dumbledore and Johnny Depp’s Grindelwald Being in an “Intense” Sexual Relationship
John F. Trent
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Harry Potter scribe J.K. Rowling described the relationship between Jude Law’s Albus Dumbledore and Johnny Depp’s Gellert Grindelwald as “intense,” and has subsequently faced a backlash for her comments.
According to Radio Times, Rowling discusses the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald in the upcoming [easyazon_link identifier=”B07GW2RHQD” locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald[/easyazon_link] Blu-ray DVD.
Rowling states:
“Their relationship was incredibly intense. It was passionate, and it was a love relationship. But as happens in any relationship, gay or straight or whatever label we want to put on it, one never knows really what the other person is feeling. You can’t know, you can believe you know.”
She then elaborates on their relationship and how there is a sexual dimensional, but she’s more interested in the emotional one:
“So I’m less interested in the sexual side – though I believe there is a sexual dimension to this relationship – than I am in the sense of the emotions they felt for each other, which ultimately is the most fascinating thing about all human relationships.”
Director David Yates would also add, “This is a story about two men who loved each other, and ultimately have to fight each other. It’s a story for the 21st century.”
Many LGBT fans of the Harry Potter and subsequently the Fantastic Beasts franchise were not happy with Rowling’s statements.
J.K. Rowling Confirms Some Characters in Her Books and Movies Are Gay Everywhere Except in the Books or the Movies https://t.co/Y5gcbMWNB9
— Eric D. Snider (@EricDSnider) March 16, 2019
I’m sick of Rowling and her half-assed inclusivity. It doesn’t count if she’s telling us after the fact. That’s not being an ally. That’s trying to get brownie points. She loses nothing this way. Put it in the text or don’t talk about it all. Same thing with Hermione’s race.
— 🍀 Lucky Femme | Not a woman 🍀 (@Femme_Queer) March 17, 2019
since everyone’s tweeting about JK Rowling again, i want to point out that what she *actually said* is that she’s “less interested in the sexual side” of Dumbledore & Grindelwald’s relationship – something she’d never say about a straight couple. https://t.co/qXO5tDUHoZ pic.twitter.com/G5l2F2YUXf
— Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (@Hello_Tailor) March 17, 2019
This weekend I saw a middle aged lesbian couple drunkenly lip sync Man, I Feel Like a Woman to one another in the chain pub at Paddington station and that’s the gay representation I needed as a child – not Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s fash slash fiction
— shon faye. (@shonfaye) March 17, 2019
jk rowling can log on here and tweet “dumbledore was a dom top” all she likes but the fact remains she actively leaves out any LGBT rep in her books and films so her profit isn’t affected
— laura (@lauraw97_) March 17, 2019
Rowling previously stated that Albus Dumbledore was gay following the release of her seventh Harry Potter book, [easyazon_link identifier=”0545139708″ locale=”US” tag=”boundingintocomics-20″]Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows[/easyazon_link]. Rowling revealed Dumbledore was gay and had a relationship with Gellert Grindelwald while speaking at Carnegie Hall in 2007. She described Dumbledore’s love for Grindelwald as his “great tragedy” at the time. She would elaborate saying, “Falling in love can blind us to an extent” referring to how Grindelwald was interested in the dark arts.
Dumbledore’s sexuality has never been portrayed on screen. Actor Jude Law discussed the topic while promoting The Crimes of Grindelwald last July:
“I suppose the question is: How is Dumbledore’s sexuality depicted in this film? What you got to remember, this is only the second Fantastic Beasts film in a series. And what’s brilliant about Jo’s writing is how she reveals her characters, peels them to the heart over time. You’re just getting to know Albus in this film, and there’s obviously a lot more to come. We learn a little about his past in the beginning of this film, and characters and their relationships will unfold naturally which I’m excited to reveal. But we’re not going to reveal everything all at once.”
Rowling confirmed on Twitter in October of 2016 that there were five planned Fantastic Beasts movies. Only two have been made so far.
Not ‘at least.’ Five. Five movies. https://t.co/61YvDIKPsG
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 13, 2016
What do you make of this backlash against J.K. Rowling? Do you think it is warranted? Or do you think it is much ado about nothing?
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