The Jon Stewart JK Rowling Controversy Fully Explained

"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling has surely been in some hot water in recent years. In 2020, Rowling posted a headline referencing "people who menstruate" on her Twitter to which she responded, "'People who menstruate.' I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?" She went on to pen even more controversial tweets commenting on transgender people, which sparked many celebs to call out Rowling on her problematic thoughts. Her comments created such a full-blown controversy that she was notably left out of the 2021 "Harry Potter" reunion special, only appearing in archival footage from 2019.

Now, only six days into 2022, Rowling is the subject of headlines again thanks to former "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart. The comedian recently spoke out against what he believes to be an antisemitic trope in the "Harry Potter" series on his podcast, "The Problem with Jon Stewart." However, it seems he's taking those comments back. Confused? We thought you might be, so here's the full rundown on the controversy between Jon Stewart and J.K. Rowling.

Jon Stewart first critiqued J.K. Rowling when he spoke out about the Gringotts goblins from "Harry Potter" on a December 18, 2021 episode of his "The Problem with Jon Stewart" podcast. He said that the banker goblins were comparable to the caricatures of Jews from a notorious antisemitic writing, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." "Here's how you know Jews are still where they are," Stewart explained. "I just want to show you a caricature. And they're like, 'Oh, look at that, that's from Harry Potter!' And you're like, 'No, that's a caricature of a Jew from an antisemitic piece of literature.'" he said, before adding how the resemblance between the goblins and the caricatures may not be so apparent to other people (via Newsweek).

Now, just two days after Newsweek brought Stewart's comments from the podcast to the public's attention, Stewart is slamming the publication in an expletive-ridden Twitter rant calling its business model "f****** arson." Stewart wanted to clearly express that he did not believe Rowling to be anti-Semitic and said his comments were taken out of context. He explained, "There is no reasonable person that could've watched it and not seen it as a lighthearted conversation between colleagues and chums, having a larf, enjoying ourselves about 'Harry Potter.'"

Rowling has yet to publicly comment on the controversy, but thanks to Stewart's Twitter video, there shouldn't be any more confusion surrounding his previous comments.