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What Did HBO Mean By This? Racial Casting Criticism for Harry Potter Show

This meme is a side-by-side comparison that calls out problematic racial coding in the casting of HBO's new Harry Potter television series. The left panel shows the mostly white cast of Gryffindor (framed as the 'good guys' house), while the right panel shows the majority non-white (brown/Black) cast of Slytherin (framed as the 'bad guys' house) from the new HBO production. The overlaid text points out this casting pattern and asks 'What did HBO mean by this', criticizing the harmful stereotype of associating villainy with non-white characters. The original 9Gag post had a sarcastic title 'Finally! A show about magic that is grounded in reality', which mocks this problematic casting choice rather than praising the show.
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Text content

Everyone in Gryffindor (the good guys) is white
Everyone in Slytherin (the bad ones) is brown
What did HBO mean by this

Overview

This meme is a side-by-side comparison that calls out problematic racial coding in the casting of HBO's new Harry Potter television series. The left panel shows the mostly white cast of Gryffindor (framed as the 'good guys' house), while the right panel shows the majority non-white (brown/Black) cast of Slytherin (framed as the 'bad guys' house) from the new HBO production. The overlaid text points out this casting pattern and asks 'What did HBO mean by this', criticizing the harmful stereotype of associating villainy with non-white characters. The original 9Gag post had a sarcastic title 'Finally! A show about magic that is grounded in reality', which mocks this problematic casting choice rather than praising the show.

Origin notes

This meme originated on the 9Gag platform, created as social commentary based on the first released promotional images of the cast for HBO's upcoming Harry Potter television adaptation. It circulated online to spark discussion about racial stereotypes and poor casting choices in modern media.

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