{
  "id": 17487784,
  "title": "‘Harry Potter’s Paapa Essiedu Defends Casting After Advocating For Trans Rights: “People Have A Lot Of Feelings About This”",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/31/harry-potters-paapa-essiedu-defends-casting-after-advocating-for",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-31T22:28:18.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Deadline",
    "slug": "deadline",
    "url": "https://deadline.com/2026/10/harry-potter-paapa-essiedu-defends-casting-trans-rights-1237210681/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "With the clock counting down to Harry Potter‘s Christmas debut, Paapa Essiedu is addressing the ongoing controversy around the show. The actor, who stars as Severus Snape in the upcoming HBO series adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s books, recently responded to criticisms of his joining the cast following the author’s infamous social media campaign of transphobia. […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Variety",
        "title": "‘Harry Potter’ Actor Paapa Essiedu ‘Wouldn’t Have Taken This Job On’ If He Couldn’t Handle Snape Casting Backlash: ‘My Priority Is the Work’",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/30/harry-potter-actor-paapa-essiedu-wouldnt-have-taken-this-job-on-if-he",
        "published": "2026-10-30T17:03:31.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}