{"id":197113,"date":"2025-10-13T13:15:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/197113\/"},"modified":"2025-10-13T13:15:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T13:15:08","slug":"keira-knightley-addresses-backlash-over-role-in-harry-potter-audiobook-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/197113\/","title":{"rendered":"Keira Knightley Addresses Backlash Over Role In Harry Potter Audiobook Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keira Knightley<\/a> has spoken out after she and her co-stars faced a wave of criticism<\/a> for lending their voices to a new audiobook series based on the Harry Potter<\/a> books.<\/p>\n

The Oscar nominee plays the villainous Dolores Umbridge in a new Harry Potter series for Audible, which also features the likes of Hugh Laurie, Riz Ahmed, Kit Harington, Simon Pegg, Ruth Wilson and James McAvoy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the actors\u2019 involvement in the project has been met with backlash from some critics due to the ongoing controversy surrounding the franchise\u2019s creator JK Rowling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rowling has become a controversial figure in recent history<\/a> due to her ongoing commentary about transgender people on social media.<\/p>\n

This has included repeatedly and deliberately misgendering public figures who are trans<\/a>, and donating tens of thousands of pounds to the campaign group<\/a> which raised the initial legal challenge that led to the UK Supreme Court\u2019s ruling earlier this year<\/a> that the legal definition of a woman should include only those who were assigned female at birth.<\/p>\n

\"JK<\/p>\n

During a recent interview with Decider<\/a> to promote her new film The Woman In Cabin 10<\/a>, Keira was asked whether she was aware that many people were \u201ccalling for a Harry Potter boycott\u201d, as a result of the controversy surrounding Rowling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was not aware of that, no,\u201d the Love Actually star responded. \u201cI\u2019m very sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keira continued: \u201cYou know, I think we\u2019re all living in a period of time right now where we\u2019re all going to have to figure out how to live together, aren\u2019t we? And we\u2019ve all got very different opinions. I hope that we can all find respect.\u201d<\/p>\n

HuffPost UK has contacted Keira Knightley\u2019s team for additional comment.<\/p>\n

Back in August, fellow British actor Michelle Gomez,<\/a> who voices Professor McGonagall, spoke out about the controversy in a message addressed to her \u201cLGBTQ+ fans, and especially the trans community\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to speak directly to the concerns that have been raised about my involvement in this project,\u201d she wrote on Instagram. \u201cI hear you, and I understand why this is painful for many. I want to be clear that I stand with trans people, and I support trans rights \u2013 fully and without hesitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I accepted this role, I did so as someone who has always loved the stories and what they meant to so many \u2013 especially those who found comfort and identity in that world. I now understand more clearly how deeply complicated and hurtful this association can feel, and I take that seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

She concluded: \u201cBeing an ally means listening even when it\u2019s uncomfortable and taking accountability where it\u2019s needed. I\u2019m committed to doing both.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Harry Potter stories are currently also being adapted for the small screen at HBO, with several cast members from that show also receiving backlash over their involvement in the series<\/a>, on which Rowling serves as an executive producer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keira Knightley has spoken out after she and her co-stars faced a wave of criticism for lending their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,1635,39033,41526,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-197113","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-harry-potter","11":"tag-jk-rowling","12":"tag-keira-knightley","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}