Stewart says the goblins in the film series are so much like Jewish caricatures in a 1903 anti-Semitic book that most people would not be able to see the difference.
While it’s been talked about a bit here and there over the years, Jon Stewart says he has been stunned now for two decades that there wasn’t an immediate outcry upon seeing who runs the banking system in J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World.
In particular, the imagery of the goblins at Gringotts Bank used in the “Harry Potter” series of films bears to close a resemblance to images in a well-known anti-Semitic book, not to mention generations of anti-Semitic caricatures and cartoons in other media.
Stewart talked about it on the latest episode of his newest podcast, “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” as referenced by Variety. The episode first hit in mid-December, but his “Harry Potter” comments have resurfaced as the film franchise celebrates its 20th anniversary with a new special on HBO Max.
“Here’s how you know Jews are still where they are,” Stewart said in a clip shared to YouTube. He then referenced specifically the caricatures of Jews from the 1903 anti-Semitic book “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and their similarity to the Wizarding World’s bankers.
Stewart suggested that he’s talked to people about the imagery. “I just want to show you a caricature,” he says, referencing the turn of the last century tome. “And they’re like, ‘Oh, look at that, that’s from ‘Harry Potter.’ And you’re like, ‘No, that’s a caricature of a Jew from an anti-Semitic piece of literature.’”
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