Jon Stewart has a problem with J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series.
Stewart, 59, has questioned the controversial author’s use of what he called an “anti-Semitic” trope in her goblin characters.
The franchise prominently features a goblin banker that runs the Gringotts Wizarding Bank that Stewart recently claimed resembles an anti-Semitic caricature of the Jewish community.
“Here’s how you know Jews are still where they are,” Stewart, who is Jewish, said in a recent episode of his podcast “The Problem with Jon Stewart.” He then noted the goblins’ resemblance to characters in the early-1900s anti-Semitic book “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” suggesting that readers and filmgoers don’t necessarily know the reference.
“I just want to show you a caricature. And they’re like, ‘Oh, look at that, that’s from “Harry Potter”!’ And you’re like, ‘No, that’s a caricature of a Jew from an anti-Semitic piece of literature.’ J.K. Rowling was like, ‘Can we get these guys to run our bank?’ ” Stewart said.
He added that in the magical, make-believe world of “Harry Potter,” people “can ride dragons” and someone can own a “pet owl,” yet he wondered: “Who should run the bank? Jews.
“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 [Rowling] did not, in a wizarding world, just throw Jews in there to run the f – – king underground bank,’ ” the comedian continued. “And everybody was just like, ‘Wizards.’ It was so weird.”
The franchise’s Wiki fan page describes the goblins as “a highly intelligent race of small magical humanoid beings with long fingers and feet that coexist with the wizarding world. Their diet consists of meat, roots, and fungi.
“Goblins converse in a language known as Gobbledegook, and are adept metalsmiths notable for their silverwork; they even mint coins for wizarding currency. Due to their skills with money and finances, they control the wizarding economy to a large extent and run Gringotts Wizarding Bank,” the description added.
Rowling, 56, has caused a stir with her comments about the transgender community, with LGBTQ activists blasting her for inflammatory comments.
She also wasn’t interviewed for the recent, highly anticipated “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts” special, which featured dialogue with numerous cast members. However, that wasn’t the only noticeable issue with HBO Max’s reunion event, which premiered Jan. 1. Viewers noticed an error within the first few minutes of the retrospective.
While Hermione Granger actress Emma Watson, now 31, spoke about how the book series influenced her younger years, a photo of her — reportedly as a child — appeared on the screen. However, the snap was not of Emma Watson but of young actress Emma Roberts. The error has since been fixed in the special.