Separating Gary Oldman and Sirius Black: How you can still like the character

In the wake of the backlash on Gary Oldman for his Oscar win, it is important to recognize that we, as fans, can separate the character from the actor.

Gary Oldman recently won an Oscar for his work in The Darkest Hour, a movie about Winston Churchill during World War II. While many were blown away by his performance, others were very upset that he was getting the praise and awards after a year of Time’s Up.

Oldman, who was accused by his ex-wife of hitting her with a phone, has vehemently denied the situation and while we are not at liberty to comment on the situation, it is important to recognize that you shouldn’t be ashamed of loving Sirius Black.

As someone who’s favorite character has continually been Sirius Black since I was introduced to him while reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, I felt very weird about the Gary Oldman backlash.

I understood their anger, I got why everyone was made, but I didn’t want to stop loving my favorite character through all of it. But then I took a moment to recognize that my favorite character isn’t a reflection of that actor, especially since I was first introduced to Gary Oldman and his work through the Harry Potter series.

It’s a weird conundrum and it is hard to try and balance the characters we love with actors doing questionable things consistently. But we just have to remember that sometimes, we have to separate the character and the actor. We can’t focus on someone’s wrong doings and forget a character that gave us joy in a novel before an actor ever gave him life.

Next: We shouldn’t idolize someone just because they were in Harry Potter

So that’s what I’m going to do with Sirius Black. I’ll continue to love my favorite character.