Korean Actress Claudia Kim Faces Controversy Over Fantastic Beast Casting, JK Rowling Responds
The latest trailer for Fantastic Beasts – Crimes Of Grindelwald was quite a revelation for creature character, Nagini, played by Korean actress, Claudia Kim.
Nagini, a Maledictus, was once in fact a human with a blood-related curse.
Claudia Kim Shocks Every Potterhead With This Surprise Character Revelation
The casting, however, didn’t agree with some of the fans. To some, it wasn’t an appropriate representation of East Asian women, considering Nagini eventually became a right-hand of Voldemort.
Please let this be the last of the Asian-women-as non-human-pets-of-evil-men trope. Both Sonoya Mizuna (see #CrazyRichAsians) and Claudia Kim are so much more talented than this. https://t.co/iplfCWWGy6 pic.twitter.com/gWxZShZlUb
— Nancy Wang Yuen (@nancywyuen) September 25, 2018
now it is revealed that Claudia Kim is playing Nagini and she's blood cursed to turn into a beast and it only affects women and of course she picks an Asian woman like that's not stereotypically disgusting enough
— Natalie (@wednesdaydreams) September 25, 2018
Ah if it wasn’t clear before it is now but @jk_rowling and @wbpictures seem to have a problem casting PoC in any other role other than antagonists or plain bad guys as made apparent by Claudia Kim playing Nagini and Zoe Kravitz playing Leta Lestrange #FantasticBeasts pic.twitter.com/hhxMqR61bk
— #kamalakorp (@agentfitz777) September 25, 2018
J.K. Rowling, the author of the original Harry Potter franchise and Fantastic Beasts, defended the decision.
The Naga are snake-like mythical creatures of Indonesian mythology, hence the name ‘Nagini.’ They are sometimes depicted as winged, sometimes as half-human, half-snake. Indonesia comprises a few hundred ethnic groups, including Javanese, Chinese and Betawi. Have a lovely day 🐍
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 26, 2018
Claudia Kim has already expressed her relief on finally being able to introduce the character, but has remained silent about the controversy thus far.
