John Lithgow thought about quitting Harry Potter series, but didn't

The interview largely centers on him bringing the play Giant, in which he portrays a virulently antisemetic Roald Dahl, from London to Broadway. To him, playing the character is not condoning it but rather exploring complexity. “I am fascinated by every variety of human experience and want to understand it,” he says in the interview. “I’m in the empathy business.”

Lithgow again maintains that he doesn’t agree with Rowling’s views on trans people and feels that the Harry Potter stories are “clearly on the side of the angels, against intolerance and bigotry.” He also feels that his political loyalties should be clear, considering the three books of light verse he’s written mocking Donald Trump. But whatever the intention behind the series, the effect is that Rowling will profit from it; Forbes estimated last year that she could earn up to $20 million per year for her involvement in the series. Last year, Rowling also started a legal fund “individuals and organisations fighting to retain women’s sex-based rights in the workplace” and other spaces at the exclusion of trans women. What kind of business is that?