An artist who created a Harry Potter cartoon depicting Hermione as black has revealed the torrent of racist abuse she received online.
Anoosh Syed, an illustrator and character designer for animation, shared the image of lead characters Harry, Ron and Hermione on her Twitter profile – along with the comments people had sent her criticising the choice of skin colour.
The Toronto-based freelancer, who also received thousands of retweets and likes in support of her cartoon, defended her artwork, and said she could ‘draw whatever [she] wants’.
One critic tweeted: ‘Hermione is NOT black. Down to earth Ron would never race-mix.’
Another fumed: ‘Ok but why the f*** did you make Hermione black for no reason? She was established white in the books and the movie.’
Illustrator Anoosha shared her modern version of the three leads in Harry Potter and depicted Hermione (left) as black
But she revealed that she had received a torrent of racists abuse for the cute drawing from angry Harry Potter fans claiming she was in the wrong
People ranted at Anoosha for her cartoon drawing of the fictional character. Some fumed over her skin colour, while others claimed that ‘Ron would never race-mix’
Author of the series has previously commented on whether she would be happy for Hermione to be depicted as black and said that the character’s race was ‘never specified’
Anoosh said that those abusive comments were only a small selection: ‘There were some comments that were so horribly racist I didn’t put them up; it’s astounding how awful people can be.’
She also pointed out that the character’s race was never mentioned in the books, which the films – starring Emma Watson as Hermione – were based on.
In 2015 Author J.K. Rowling also spoke out over the issue of race after a fan asked how she would feel if Hermione was black.
‘Canon[ical]: brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever. White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione,’ the writer previously stated in a tweet.
Emma Watson played Hermione (right) in all eight of the Harry Potter films alongside Daniel Radcliffe (centre) as the titular character and Rupert Grint as Ron (left)
Actor Paul Thornley, actress Noma Dumezweni and actor Jamie Parker played the older Harry, Hermione and Ron in the Harry Potter And The Cursed Child stage play in the first round of casting
There was also fierce backlash when actress Noma Dumezweni was cast as Hermione when the stage production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play was first announced, with fans claiming it wasn’t true to the books.
After Anoosh revealed the abuse, she received thousands of messages of support, which she told FEMAIL she was pleased about.
‘I’m really happy to see all the support on Twitter; it’s reassuring to see that not everyone is as horribly racist as those commenters,’ she said.
Many tweeted in support for Anoosh’s drawing suggesting those who were criticising her should re-read the books
She added: ‘It’s also sad that those commenters can call themselves Harry Potter fans when they’re going against the entire moral of the books; love and acceptance.’
Fans of Anoosh tweeted in response: ‘Ugh this makes me so mad. People saying such horrible things should read the books again and think about what the point of the story is about.
Another added: ‘Even if Hermione was stated to be white in the books it wouldn’t that it is wrong to draw her as a POC [person of colour]; she’s fictional.’