Illustrator trolled for black Hermione Granger drawing

From Digital Spy

An artist has revealed the horrible racist backlash she received after posting a drawing of a black Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series.

Illustrator and cartoonist Anoosha Syed posted a drawing of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger online, with Hermione portrayed as a black woman and Harry with a slightly darker skin tone.

Personally, we think it's totally cute, but it wasn't long before the trolls came running and yesterday (September 20), Anoosha revealed the horrific racist backlash she endured as a result.

"Hermione and Harry's race is never stated in the books," Anoosha said. "[And] I'll draw whatever I want thanks.

"There were some comments that were so horribly racist I didn't put them up; it's astounding how awful people can be."

The nasty comments included statements such as: "Hermione is not black. Down to earth Ron would never race-mix."

The trolls also made personal references to Anoosha herself, calling her a "f**king liberal dumbass."

Of course, the completely unwarranted comments are also literally wrong, because Hermione has been portrayed by a black actress for the last two years on stage.

In the production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hermione is depicted as being black. She was initially played on stage by Noma Dumezweni, and later, former Holby City star Rakie Ayola.

And in her own words, Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has made it clear that Hermione's race was never explicitly specified in the books, thank you very much.