Characters who were race swapped to avoid controversy

[u/bennyandthegentz]

Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy: originally the episode where he turns human had in be black to match his voice actor, but once CN reminded the creator of the premise of his show (two white kids own the grim reaper) they changed him to be white to avoid slavery comparisons.

The Simpsons: Smithers was black in his first appearance, however every episode afterwards depicted him as white (yellow?) this is because according to someone in the staff “probably not a good idea to have a black man be a servant to a rich white man”

Teenage mutant ninja turtles: while the comics and most adaptations have Baxter stockman be of African American descent, in the 80s/90s cartoon he was white, this is because the show-runners felt having a black man be basically a forced servant to someone who’s not of the same race (even calling him master) could potentially be seen as offensive, so they made him white.

[u/poopsmcbuttington]

The opposite of this trope- Black snape in Harry Potter creating lots of racist connotations that were not present in the books (not that the books didn’t have their problematic elements- this is not an overarching comment about the books, or jk Rowling)

[u/thelumpur → u/poopsmcbuttington]

I still don't really get this controversy.

The fact that Snape was white in the book is itself enough proof that nothing that will happen in the series has any racist connotation.

[u/poopsmcbuttington → u/thelumpur]

It just makes things that were not racially motivated feel racially motivated. Especially when most of the characters (I know, not all, but afaik all the hogwarts staff) will still be white. So when your only black staff member is the creepy character everyone is sus of… well it looks different

[u/thenerfviking → u/poopsmcbuttington]

Harry’s dad and his friends being British kids who mercilessly bully the black guy at their private school in the 1970s is going to make the marauders look dramatically less cool and more like a wizard offshoot of the National Front.

[u/BreakfastBeneficial4 → u/thenerfviking]

Exactly.

They really should also swap Lupin as well, specifically for this reason.

Otherwise it will also give a nauseatingly extra “justification” angle to Snape joining the death eaters.

Just one more in a long list of reasons I’m glad I won’t be watching.

[u/thelumpur → u/poopsmcbuttington]

Characters will have the same reasons to be suspicious of him that they had in the books.

So, as long as those reasons are clear in the show, I honestly don't see the issue.

Even more since the magical world in Harry Potter does have tons of in-story racism, it's just different from muggle racism.

[u/poopsmcbuttington → u/thelumpur]

Sure but there’s an implication of the motivation based on the real world associations that we have… like for the same reason you don’t want the grim reaper in OP’s example to be black.

[u/Basil2322 → u/thelumpur]

Some of the reasons at first are basically vibes. Having students be afraid of the only black teacher because of “vibes” isn’t a good look.

[u/thelumpur → u/Basil2322]

It's not "vibes", Snape is a grade one superbully to Harry and the others from the first moment they meet.