{"id":509179,"date":"2026-04-02T15:51:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T15:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/509179\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T15:51:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T15:51:19","slug":"snape-actor-paapa-essiedu-responds-to-racist-backlash-over-harry-potter-reboot-casting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/509179\/","title":{"rendered":"Snape actor Paapa Essiedu responds to racist backlash over Harry Potter reboot casting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Paapa Essiedu is set to take over the role of Severus Snape from Alan Rickman in the upcoming HBO reboot, with fans getting their first glimpse at the I May Destroy You actor in the role in the newest trailer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">The <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ladbible.com\/harry-potter\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Harry Potter<\/a> HBO series is set to release in Christmas of this year, with the first trailer bringing fans back to Hogwarts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">With fans finding out that the trio of 11-year-old stars would be <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ladbible.com\/entertainment\/tv\/harry-potter-earnings-hbo-dominic-mclaughlin-explained-money-209998-20260330\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">receiving \u00a3500k<\/a> for their appearance in the first season interest has been sky-high in the wider cast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">John Lithgow, who plays Dumbledore in the reboot, has been one of several to speak out against <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ladbible.com\/jk-rowling\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">JK Rowling\u2019s<\/a> transphobic comments, and has received backlash for this from supporters of the author.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">This backlash however pales in comparison to the <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ladbible.com\/news\/uk-news\/harry-potter-hbo-series-paapa-essiedu-death-threats-severus-snape-role-253535-20260322\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">horrific abuse Paapa Essiedu<\/a> has been receiving for being cast as Snape.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Essiedu was unveiled in the new trailer as Snape (HBO)\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"fill\" class=\"article-image_image__XvzgU\" style=\"position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/aHR0cHM6Ly9ldS1pbWFnZXMuY29udGVudHN0YWNrLmNvbS92My9hc3NldHMvYmx0Y2Q3NGFjYzFkMGE5OWYzYS9ibHQ2YjkwMzBj.webp\"\/>Essiedu was unveiled in the new trailer as Snape (HBO)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Snape\u2019s race was never specified in the <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ladbible.com\/entertainment\/tv\/harry-potter-trailer-philosophers-stone-us-tv-601559-20260326\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">books<\/a> beyond him being described as having \u2018sallow skin\u2019, a complexion typically found in Caucasian people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Essiedu has been subject to horrific racist abuse because of his casting including death threats in which he was told \u2018quit or I\u2019ll murder you\u2019.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">HBO\u2019s CEO Casey Bloys went as far as to say in an interview with <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/tv\/global\/casey-bloys-hbo-max-ted-sarandos-harry-potter-1236698186\/\">Variety<\/a> that the production had a \u2018serious security team\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">In an interview with the <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bbcnews\/?utm_source=ig_embed\">BBC<\/a> the Essiedu directly addressed it, saying he\u2019d \u2018had some extreme responses over Snape casting.\u2019<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">The actor went on to add: \u201cThere have been some extreme responses, and I\u2019d be lying if I said that, you know, I\u2019m a completely impenetrable robot, automation, you know.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">\u201cBut I mean, there\u2019s another question to do with like how you receive feedback and like social media and algorithms and why it is that certain things get pushed to the front and certain things don\u2019t, it\u2019s not a question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Essiedu has also received disgusting backlash online for being vocally supportive of the Transgender community despite the views of JK Rowling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Last year Essiedu signed an open letter calling which condemned a controversial UK supreme court ruling which decided that any mention of \u2018sex\u2019 and \u2018woman\u2019 in the Equality Act refer to biological women and sex.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Paapa Essiedu received backlash for signing the letter, with some fans calling on JK Rowling to 'fire' him (Dave Benett\/Getty Images for Harper's Bazaar UK)\" data-chromatic=\"ignore\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"fill\" class=\"article-image_image__XvzgU\" style=\"position:absolute;height:100%;width:100%;left:0;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;color:transparent\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/aHR0cHM6Ly9ldS1pbWFnZXMuY29udGVudHN0YWNrLmNvbS92My9hc3NldHMvYmx0Y2Q3NGFjYzFkMGE5OWYzYS9ibHRjNGIxNzgw.webp\"\/>Paapa Essiedu received backlash for signing the letter, with some fans calling on JK Rowling to &#8216;fire&#8217; him (Dave Benett\/Getty Images for Harper&#8217;s Bazaar UK)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">The letter, which was also signed by Emma Watson, said: \u201cWe believe the ruling undermines the lived reality and threatens the safety of trans, non-binary and intersex people living in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Rowling responded in a post on X, saying: \u201c\u201cI don\u2019t have the power to sack an actor from the series and I wouldn\u2019t exercise it if I did.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">\u201cI don\u2019t believe in taking away people\u2019s jobs or livelihoods because they hold legally protected beliefs that differ from mine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Speaking to <a class=\"anchor_link__6t7IO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thetimes.com\/culture\/tv-radio\/article\/paapa-essiedu-harry-potter-snape-interview-3hqkzzmlk\">The Times<\/a> about signing the letter he said: \u201cMy points of view are mine and will continue to be so.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">\u201cI signed that letter because I believe that artists in the trans community have a right to be treated with dignity and should be able to work without being intimidated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">\u201cI have been really supported by the production team, and I\u2019d sign that letter again today.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text_text__nEn66\">Harry Potter and the Philosopher\u2019s Stone will premiere Christmas Day 2026.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paapa Essiedu is set to take over the role of Severus Snape from Alan Rickman in the upcoming&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[830,96,1635,1636,39033,2839,391,14913,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-509179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-celebrity","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-harry-potter","11":"tag-hbo","12":"tag-jk-rowling","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-tv","15":"tag-tv-and-film","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509179","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=509179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}