Today in the ever-troubled world of Harry Potter, the Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has fired James Snyder, the actor playing the titular wizard, citing unspecified concerns about his conduct.
Producers of the play said they launched a third-party investigation into Snyder’s conduct after receiving a complaint from Diane Davis, the actress playing Ginny Potter, Harry Potter’s wife. Davis filed the complaint on November 19th, 2021, just a week after the show resumed performances after shutting down due to COVID-19. Snyder was originally suspended pending the results of the investigation, but his contract has now been terminated, and Davis is taking a leave of absence from the production.
“We are committed to fostering a safe and inclusive workplace, which is why we have robust workplace policies and procedures in place for all those involved in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” the show’s producers said in a statement. “This includes strict prohibitions against harassment in any form, as well as channels through which any employee can report conduct that they believe is inappropriate. We will continue to do all we can to ensure the extremely talented team that brings this production to life feels safe, empowered, and fully supported.”
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Set 19 years after the conclusion of J.K. Rowling‘s novels, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child follows the boy wizard as an adult, now married with children of his own. Snyder — who previously starred in Broadway productions of Cry-Baby and If/Then — portrayed Potter for about a year before COVID-19 paused production, and has since been replaced with Steve Haggard.
Aside from the Broadway stage, the wizarding world of Hogwarts has most recently come under fire from Jon Stewart, who said the series — which recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of its film adaption with a cast reunion for HBO Max — fell into historic anti-Semitic tropes in its depictions of bankers. This, of course, is in-between Rowling’s constant spouting of unsolicited transphobia. Talk about cursed.