Admission time. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan. I've devoured all the books and watched every movie, skipping the spin-offs. Toured the Wizarding World at Universal Studios… twice, actually. Once in California, once in Florida. On top of that, I plan to hit the new expanded section soon. J.K. Rowling's left-leaning politics never bothered me. The stories hooked me. I shared them with my son.
Conservatives cut creators slack like that. Liberals? They pounce. Boycott. Cancel. All to flex their woke tolerance muscles. Except when they don’t.
John Lithgow just spilled why he's sticking with playing Albus Dumbledore in the new Harry Potter series for HBO Max. Apparently, activists screamed at him to quit over Rowling's trans views. He didn't budge. "I take the subject extremely seriously," Lithgow said. "She has created this amazing canon for young people and it has jumped into the consciousness of the society. It’s about good versus evil, kindness versus cruelty." He nevertheless called her stance "ironic and inexplicable.”
Really?
Lithgow is 80 years old. For the vast majority of his life, transgenderism wasn’t a thing. Even when it first became a thing, it wasn’t mainstream until roughly ten years ago. Do you really believe he finds Rowling’s views inexplicable? I don’t.
But he’s an actor, and he has to play the part to be accepted in Hollywood. And he kept doubling down.
Related: Why Can’t Hollywood Be for Everyone?
"It upsets me when people are opposed to me having anything to do with this. But in ‘Potter’ canon, you see no trace of transphobic sensitivity. She’s written this meditation of kindness and acceptance. And Dumbledore is a beautiful role."
He added, "It was a hard decision. It made me uncomfortable and unhappy that people insisted I walk away from the job. I chose not to do that."
That’s the key right there.
As I said before, Lithgow is 80 years old. This gig locks in work for years while the series films. If Rowling's views repulsed him that much, he'd bail. No brainer. Instead, he virtue-signals to the radical left. Tut-tuts her "inexplicable" takes. All while pocketing the steady paycheck for a time in his life when work probably wouldn’t have been steady.
Taking the gig was a no-brainer, not a tough call. Rowling's views aren't baffling. They're plain common sense. Biology matters. Women deserve safe spaces. Kids shouldn't get rushed into life-altering drugs. She states facts. The mob labels it hate.
What Lithgow is doing is playing both sides. Virtue signal to the left-wing bullies, but take the paycheck from an IP that many on the far left have decided is evil. I've long suspected most lefties nod along to trans madness under duress. Social pressure. Career threats. They don't truly buy it. Lithgow proves the point. He’s been bullied into playing the role of transgender ally… just not enough to ditch the money, though.
Why does this matter? Lefties may dominate pop culture, but the gender ideologues are not the majority. Those on the left who have been bullied into submission need to realize that they need to stand up, not just for the paycheck but for common sense and the dignity and privacy of women and girls.
