Given that the Pirates of the Caribbean star was accused of abusing his ex-wife Amber Heard last year, many Harry Potter fans are not happy that Johnny Depp continues to have a major role in the Fantastic Beasts franchise as arch-villain Grindelwald.
Recently, fans became even more incensed due to comments from director David Yates, who dismissed the allegations as “one person who took a pop at him and claimed something.” Following this, a fan hopped on Twitter to ask J.K. Rowling – the creator of the Wizarding World is known to have a fair bit of influence over the film franchise – to clarify the matter.
The user, named @HobbitLindsey, Tweeted the following:
“So if I understand correctly the actor who played Crabbe, a minor character, was fired from Harry Potter for doing drugs. Yet Johnny Depp, who abused his wife, gets a major role in your movies? Correct me if I’m wrong, @jkrowling”
The fan failed to get a reply, however, and, in a follow-up Tweet that went viral, she revealed that the author had blocked her instead.
https://twitter.com/hobbitlindsey/status/935774921460011009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmovieweb.com%2Ffantastic-beasts-2-jk-rowling-director-defend-johnny-depp-casting%2F
In a series of other Tweets, Lindsey explained her feelings about being blocked by her favourite writer:
“All those f—ing years of tweeting her love and she not once replied but criticize her once and you get blocked what the actual f–k unstanning so hard. Just so you know i’m not about to burn my Harry Potter books but I am unstanning JK Rowling herself.
Anyway I’m not about to become one of these dumb people who burn their Harry Potter books just cause they don’t like JK Rowling. You don’t have to like the author just to enjoy their books. I will always love Harry Potter I’m just very disappointed that this is who Rowling chooses to be today. I legit tagged her in one f—ing tweet. It’s not like I spammed her with hate. I tagged her in one tweet with criticism and she blocks me that goes beyond me I’m incredibly disappointed.”
Fellow Potterheads have leaped to Lindsey’s defense in the dispute and have also expressed disappointment in Rowling for jumping to the block option rather than engaging with the topic at hand. Despite being a very active social media user, and known for her vocal feminist views, Rowling has not made any sort of statement on the controversy surrounding Depp’s casting yet.
Fans have taken this to mean that, much like Yates, Rowling supports Depp against the allegations. However, it could just be that she doesn’t wish to comment on the matter, for whatever reason, and is even taking to ignoring fans who bring up the subject.
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is due to conjure its way into cinemas on November 16th, 2018.
