Jon Stewart accuses JK Rowling of anti-Semitism in Harry Potter

Comedian Jon Stewart has hit out at Harry Potter author JK Rowling for allegedly perpetuating antisemitic stereotypes in her books.

The former Daily Show host, discussed the Gringotts Goblins on his podcast, saying they were comparable to antisemitic caricatures of Jews found in notorious antisemitic books like The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Speaking on The Problem with Jon Stewart podcast, Stewart described disbelief when watching the Harry Potter films and feeling that a scene where Harry Potter walks into a bank was clearly stereotyping Jews.

The scene Jon Stewart is referencing was shared by me in 2018, when Rowling was smearing the left as antisemites and only beginning to embrace her infamous anti trans views. Harry walks over a bank adorned with Jewish Stars, to greedy Goblins side locks.pic.twitter.com/fZHMHf85h7
— Rafael Shimunov (@rafaelshimunov) January 3, 2022

He said: “It was one of those things where I saw it on the screen and I was expecting the crowd to be like, ‘Holy s**t, she did not, in a wizarding world, just throw Jews in there to run the f*****g underground bank."

Stewart also implied that Rowling was stereotyping Jews in a completely fictional world saying: "JK Rowling was like, can we get these guys to run our bank?’ It’s a wizarding world, we can ride dragons, you can have a pet owl, but who should run the bank? Jews."

JK Rowling has previously spoken out in support of Britain's Jewish community in the face of antisemitism, notably in 2018, when she tweeted examples of antisemitism and apologetics for it, and described how “UK Jews are currently having to field this kind of cr*p.”

Rowling also repeatedly criticised Jeremy Corbyn while he was Labour, writing a parody of the Labour party in his leadership and making references to his issues with the British Jewish community.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The portrayal of the goblins in the Harry Potter series is of a piece with their portrayal in Western literature as a whole. It is the product of centuries of association of Jews with grotesque and malevolent creatures in folklore, as well as money and finance. The mythological associations have become so ingrained in the Western mind that their provenance no longer registers with creators or consumers. Those who continue to use such representations are often not thinking of Jews at all, but simply of how readers or viewers will imagine goblins to look, which is a testament more to centuries of Christendom’s antisemitism than it is to malice by contemporary artists. So it is with JK Rowling, who has proven herself over recent years to be a tireless defender of the Jewish community in its fight against antisemitism, for which we are immensely grateful.”