Yahoo Movies Harry Potter fans upset that Dumbledore won't be openly gay in Fantastic Beasts 2
According to director David Yates, Jude Law’s young Albus Dumbledore, future headmaster of Hogwarts, won’t be openly gay in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, and when asked whether Law’s version of the character would be gay, as writer J.K. Rowling revealed herself after her Harry Potter books were completed, he said: “Not explicitly. But I think all the fans are aware of that. 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.”
But many fans actually aren’t too happy about his remarks and they’re taking aim at J.K. Rowling, who’s penned the movie’s script, for not making his sexuality a bit more explicit now that she has the chance.
In fact, plenty are questioning the motives of her decision to ‘out’ Dumbledore in the first place.
jkr: dumbledore is gay lol
fans: okay but u didn't put it in the source material
jkr: i know lol
*ten years later*
fans: okay you've got a chance to put it in canon now
jkr: hehe lol i know
fans: so are you gonna
jkr: no lol— lucy (@_avasharpe) January 31, 2018
now i can say i'm right when i say @jk_rowling only said dumbledore was gay so she could claim that her books are representative. lemme tell you something: if it's not mentioned in the books, if it's not actually in the story, it's not real rep
— lara (@softjiIy) January 31, 2018
JKR *opening closet door, gestures*: Look, it's Dumbledore, he's gay!
Dumbledoor *tries to step out of the closet*
JKR: pic.twitter.com/PnICoNowa2— heidi heilig (@heidiheilig) January 31, 2018
If it isn’t obvious by now: Rowling said Dumbledore was gay those years ago purely to try and avoid backlash for not having enough diversity. She never said anything about it in the actual series, and now won’t again in fantastic beasts.
— xavier (@homosexualsnape) January 31, 2018
Lol. There are actually fans using the "being openly gay wouldn't make sense for the time period" argument re: Dumbledore. You can accept three headed dogs, invisibility cloaks, and Aberforth's "affinity" for goats, but not an openly gay dude in the 20th century?
— Sarah Sterling (@SarahSterling_) January 31, 2018
“Not explicitly,” Yates replied when asked if the film makes it clear that Dumbledore is gay. “But I think all the fans are aware of that."
IT'S 2018 LMAO GET IT TOGETHER
— Connor Goldsmith (@dreamoforgonon) January 31, 2018
We could have had Jude Law as Dumbledore falling in love with Colin Farrell as Grindelwald but NOOOO now y’all trying to pretend like Dumbledore isn’t gay. Get outta here
— rachel leishman (@RachelLeishman) January 31, 2018
Dumbledore will be exactly as ~canonically gay~ in Fantastic Beasts 2 (2018) as he was in Harry Potter 1 (2001), which is to say: not at all.
— Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (@Hello_Tailor) January 31, 2018
David Yates: well, dumbledore won't *explicitly* be …
me: pic.twitter.com/GBhB0T2reT
— Alex Bedder (@itgetsbedder) January 31, 2018
Rowling has teased the forthcoming Dumbledore plot in the past, however.
She told a press conference two years back: “I can’t tell you everything I would like to say because this is obviously a five-part story so there’s lots to unpack in that relationship.
“You will see Dumbledore as a younger man and quite a troubled man — he wasn’t always the sage…We’ll see him at that formative period of his life. As far as his sexuality is concerned… watch this space.”
However, she’s since said on Twitter that she’s somewhat displeased about being sent abuse for remarks made by Yates.
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? pic.twitter.com/Rj6Zr8aKUk
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 31, 2018
She revealed that Dumbledore was gay in 2007.
“I always thought of Dumbledore as gay,” she said. “Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald, and that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was.”
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is due out on November 16.
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