Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart still believes that certain “tropes” are “embedded” in society and sometimes “invisible“ in films
Jon Stewart has claimed he never meant to accuse JK Rowling or the ‘Harry Potter’ films of being anti-Semitic, despite fallout from a previous conversation on the topic.
On his podcast ‘The Problem with Jon Stewart,’ the comedian said he was surprised to see a previous podcast conversation trending on Twitter, as more and more people highlighted Stewart’s comments comparing the goblin banker characters in the ‘Harry Potter’ films to Jewish caricatures.
“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,” he said in the clip. Stewart claimed the segment of film featuring the goblin characters and the Gringotts bank resemble imagery from the 1903 fabricated anti-Semitic book, ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.’
Stewart is now claiming, however, that he was merely “having a larf” – or laugh – and that Rowling was brought up as part of a longer discussion.
“There is no reasonable person that could have watched it and seen it as more than a lighthearted conversation between colleagues and chums, having a larf,” he said, specifically name-dropping Newsweek as an outlet committing “f**king arson” in its coverage of his remarks.
Newsweek et al, may eat my ass. pic.twitter.com/eRoYYeNRi1
— Jon Stewart (@jonstewart) January 5, 2022