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J.K. Rowling responds to gay Dumbledore controversy

Posted at 9:07 AM, Feb 02, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-02 09:07:01-05

There’s criticism ahead of “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” with some fans upset that “fantastic Beasts 2” is not going to let Dumbledore be openly gay.

Here’s a sign of how far the world has come: Some fans are upset that “Fantastic Beasts 2” is not going to let Dumbledore be openly gay.

The controversy began after the film’s director, David Yates, told Entertainment Weeklythe sexuality of the character Albus Dumbledore would not be “explicitly” explored in the forthcoming sequel, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.”

“But I think all the fans are aware of that,” Yates said. “He had a very intense relationship with Grindelwald when they were young men. They fell in love with each other’s ideas, and ideology and each other.”

That view didn’t sit well with some fans, who tweeted their thoughts about it.

“IT’S 2018 LMAO GET IT TOGETHER,” one person tweeted.

Dumbledore is younger in the sequel than he is in the Harry Potter books. “Fantastic Beasts” tells the story of Newt Scamander, the fictional author of the book “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” who is mentioned in the Potter series.

Jude Law portrays the younger Dumbledore.

“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling revealed in 2007 that the Hogwarts School headmaster was gay after the release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the final book in the boy wizard series.

In 2015, she defended what she said after a fan tweeted her, asking, “I wonder why you said that Dumbledore is gay because I can’t see him in that way.”

Rowling tweeted back: “Maybe because gay people just look like… people?”

She’s also responding to the current complaints.

On Wednesday, she posted a tweet that included a GIF of rapper Lil Yachty pressing the mute button.

“Being sent abuse about an interview that didn’t involve me, about a screenplay I wrote but which none of the angry people have read, which is part of a five-movie series that’s only one instalment in, is obviously tons of fun, but you know what’s even *more* fun,” she wrote.

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is scheduled for release in November.