Jon Stewart Clarifies 'Harry Potter' Anti-Semitism Observations

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — You may have heard by now that Jon Stewart, who lives in Monmouth County, made some criticism of the "Harry Potter" series last month on his new Apple TV+ show, “The Problem with Jon Stewart."

Specifically, Stewart said the depiction of the bankers who run the fictional underground bank in the series, Gringotts Bank, rely on anti-Semitic tropes and stereotypes.

Stewart, who owns property in Middletown, stressed this week he is not accusing "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling of anti-Semitism.

"This is bonkers .... There is no reasonable person that could have watched it and not seen it as light-hearted conversation, enjoying ourselves, enjoying ourselves about 'Harry Potter' and my experience watching it as a Jewish guy and how some tropes are so embedded in our society that they are basically invisible, even in a considered process like movie making," said Stewart Wednesday on his Twitter feed.

"This morning I wake up and it's trending on Twitter and here is the headline from Newsweek, 'Jon Stewart Accuses J.K. Rowling of Anti-Semitism,'" he continued. "Let me say this as clearly as I can: I do not think J.K. Rowling is anti-Semitic. I did not accuse her of being anti-Semitic. I do not think the 'Harry Potter' movies are anti-Semitic. She need not answer to any of it. I do not want the Harry Potter movies censored in any way."

However, Stewart stood by the observations he made in December on his show: That the pointy-eared, long-nosed, evil bankers from the Harry Potter series invoked historical stereotypes of Jewish bankers who seek world domination.

“(People say) ‘Oh that’s a character from 'Harry Potter,’ (and) you’re like, ‘No that’s a caricature of a Jew from an anti-Semitic piece of literature.’ J.K. Rowling was like, ‘Can we get these guys to run our bank?’” Stewart said on his show in December, according to the Asbury Park Press. “It’s a wizarding world. We can ride dragons. You can have a pet owl. But who should run the bank? Jews. But what if the teeth were sharper?”

A group called the Campaign Against Antisemitism agreed with Stewart.

“The portrayal of the goblins in the 'Harry Potter' series is of a piece with their portrayal in Western literature as a whole,” said the Campaign Against Antisemitism on their Twitter account Wednesday of this week.

“It is the product of centuries of association of Jews with grotesque and malevolent creatures in folklore, as well as money and finance. The mythological associations have become so ingrained in the Western mind that their provenance no longer registers with creators or consumers."

But they also clarified that they do not think Rowling is anti-Semitic.

In October of 2021, Stewart sold two homes he owned in Red Bank, as Patch reported. He and his wife own a working farm in Middletown. In 2015, the couple turned their Middletown farm into a branch of Farm Sanctuary, a farm animal protection group. Read: Jon And Tracey Stewart To Open Farm Sanctuary In Middletown

Hear Stewart's comments Wednesday:

Newsweek et al, may eat my ass. pic.twitter.com/eRoYYeNRi1
— Jon Stewart (@jonstewart) January 5, 2022