(NewsNation Now) — Political comedian Jon Stewart is firing back against a report saying he accused “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling of anti-Semitism.
“Not a reasonable person could not have looked at that conversation and not found it lighthearted,” Stewart said in a clip he posted to Twitter on Wednesday.
This week, Newsweek published a report saying the comedian accused the author of anti-Semitism.
“I do not think J.K. Rowling is anti-Semitic,” Stewart said. “I did not accuse her of being anti-Semitic. I do not think that the Harry Potter movies are anti-Semitic.”
In a December episode of his Apple TV Plus show called “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” the comedian talks about Harry Potter and how the goblins in the movie series are portrayed.
“Talking to people, what I say is ‘Have you ever seen a Harry Potter movie?’” Stewart said during last month’s show. “People are all, like, ‘I love the Harry Potter movies.’ You ever see the scenes in Gringotts bank? And they are like ‘I love the scene at Gringotts bank.’ Like, do you know what those folks that run the bank are? They are like ‘what?’ And they’re, like, `Jews.'”
The Mediaite Moment, a daily segment on “Dan Abrams Live,” strives to hold shows and members of the media accountable by scrutinizing clips of their comments. On Thursday, Dan aired clips of Stewart’s initial remarks about the series and his response to the backlash.
“Let me say this instead to Newsweek, Your business model is (expletive) arson … and now all s— heads pile into this ridiculously out-of-context nonsense,” Stewart said in his defense, adding that he loves the Harry Potter movies.
Abrams said Stewart’s response was “interesting,” considering he often used clips out of context on “The Daily Show.”
“I’m sure there are a lot of people who ended up in one of his clip montages over the years that were just as frustrated as he is now,” Abrams said.