This is the Gapers with Jobs conference call, a special edition episode actually, because while recording the previous episode,

Amanda, Andrew, and I had a sidebar discussion about Hogwarts legacy and the controversy surrounding it.

And we thought this would be a useful opportunity for us to kind of unpack why we are not going to be saying anything more about it.

If you are not interested in hearing this take at all, you are free

to move on. No one will judge you. But if you would like us to unpack what we think about

this controversy, stay on board. We're going to have a conversation about that. I think the first

thing to know is just for setting table stakes here is there is

obviously, I think the issues with J.K. Rowling are well known to all of us. She is someone who has

a bigoted and many would argue myself included exterminationist stance towards marginalized people,

particularly a group that is under fire politically right now.

In addition to that, Harry Potter as a franchise has always had problems with its depiction of Jewish people and its general problematic viewpoints about the way that it interacts with and puts like a playful little fantasy spin on some really toxic ideas.

So we want to talk about some of that stuff.

But first, I want to give everybody an opportunity to kind of state

where they come from as we engage with all of this, because I think it's really important.

This we're not all, I think contrary to what many of our critics might say, we're not all

just carbon cut out literal blue-haired communists.

We all come from a different background.

I, of course, being the actual only blue-haired communist on the podcast.

But why don't you two share where you're coming from and your experiences with Harry Potter?

Well, so I read half of the first book.

I understood that the book was for kids.

So I was willing to be pretty forgiving for the bad writing and the bad.

...