Ghanian English actor Paapa Essiedu recently spoke out about the racist abuse and death threats he has received since the announcement that he had been cast as potions professor Severus Snape. “I’ve been told, ‘Quit or I’ll murder you,'” he said in an interview with the Times of London. '”“[N]obody should have to encounter this for doing their job … And I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t affect me emotionally,” Essiedu added. There was a similar outcry in 2016 when Noma Dumezweni was cast to play Hermione Granger in the original London production of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”It’s also not a situation unique to Harry Potter. “We just try to be mindful and monitor it.”Essiedu also told the Times of London that “the [racist] abuse fuels” him.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 30, 2026 16:16 UTC