{"id":1258,"date":"2025-06-04T11:11:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T10:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/?p=486680"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/","title":{"rendered":"This is the real reason one Harry Potter film faced a boycott, and it’s honestly wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a classic and it continues to be a family favourite over 20 years after its release.<\/p>\n

But, did you know that a bunch of fans actually boycotted the film when it came out in cinemas?<\/p>\n

In 2002, one group refused to watch the film due to a number of characters wearing fake beards. Yes, you read that right.<\/p>\n

The Beard Liberation Front (BLF) opposed the release because of Robbie Coltrane and Richard Harris wearing imitation beards. This then led to members of the group encouraging cinema goers to jeer at the screen during the movie.<\/p>\n

Talking about the film, BLF founder, Keith Flett said: “Now we’re just asking our few hundred supporters to hiss and boo when the fake beards come on the screen.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
Richard Harris as Dumbledore via Netflix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although, later on the group did rescind Keith’s call for a boycott, with the founder saying: “Some BLF supporters said they would be given hell by their children if they weren’t taken to see Harry Potter<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

However, there were no more boycotts of other films in the franchise after the original one.<\/p>\n

But, this isn’t the only time the BLF has spoken out about celebrity beard matters.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According<\/a> to The Mirror US, the group claimed Sean Connery missed out on a knighthood in 1998 because of his beard. Members alleged they had heard this information from “normally reliable New Labour sources”. However, Sean was actually knighted two years later.<\/p>\n

In 2002, BLF was back again but this time it had issues with Santa Claus.<\/p>\n

Keith Flett told the BBC: “The Santa season is the worst time of the year for beard wearers. The taunts from children and comments we get from White Van Man get worse.”<\/p>\n

The group still appears to be active, having its own Facebook page and and website.<\/p>\n

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is available to watch on Netflix now \u2013 For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes about the dancing sequence, like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Featured image via Warner Bros on Netflix<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

And no, it’s nothing to do with the promotion of witchcraft<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":1151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[4,98,12],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-1258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-film","tag-harry-potter","tag-netflix"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHarry Potter was boycotted in cinemas and the reason why is wild<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was boycotted when it was released in 2002, and I bet you won't guess why.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This is the real reason one Harry Potter film faced a boycott, and it's honestly wild\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was boycotted when it was released in 2002, and I bet you won't guess why.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Film Shrine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-04T10:11:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charl-Cover-Images-2025-06-03T174116.897.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Charl Wright\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Charl Wright\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/\",\"name\":\"Harry Potter was boycotted in cinemas and the reason why is wild\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charl-Cover-Images-2025-06-03T174116.897.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-04T10:11:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/e1dae3f241ccc83240d6ff8cfde09421\"},\"description\":\"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was boycotted when it was released in 2002, and I bet you won't guess why.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charl-Cover-Images-2025-06-03T174116.897.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charl-Cover-Images-2025-06-03T174116.897.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"This is the real reason one Harry Potter film faced a boycott, and it’s honestly wild\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/\",\"name\":\"Film Shrine\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/e1dae3f241ccc83240d6ff8cfde09421\",\"name\":\"Charl Wright\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/f2d112bd6641343828b0ba4d14f8d485\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93a8dee220ba327b5628e28569682a1f6f4d756c217be5ed16d7a5c32500878f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93a8dee220ba327b5628e28569682a1f6f4d756c217be5ed16d7a5c32500878f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Charl Wright\"},\"description\":\"News Editor for The Cardiff Tab since 2022. MA Broadcast Journalism student at Cardiff Uni.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/author\/charlottewright1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Harry Potter was boycotted in cinemas and the reason why is wild","description":"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was boycotted when it was released in 2002, and I bet you won't guess why.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"This is the real reason one Harry Potter film faced a boycott, and it's honestly wild","og_description":"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was boycotted when it was released in 2002, and I bet you won't guess why.","og_url":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/","og_site_name":"Film Shrine","article_published_time":"2025-06-04T10:11:21+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charl-Cover-Images-2025-06-03T174116.897.jpg","width":1,"height":1,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Charl Wright","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Charl Wright","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/","url":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/","name":"Harry Potter was boycotted in cinemas and the reason why is wild","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charl-Cover-Images-2025-06-03T174116.897.jpg","datePublished":"2025-06-04T10:11:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/e1dae3f241ccc83240d6ff8cfde09421"},"description":"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was boycotted when it was released in 2002, and I bet you won't guess why.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charl-Cover-Images-2025-06-03T174116.897.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charl-Cover-Images-2025-06-03T174116.897.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"This is the real reason one Harry Potter film faced a boycott, and it’s honestly wild"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#website","url":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/","name":"Film Shrine","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/e1dae3f241ccc83240d6ff8cfde09421","name":"Charl Wright","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/f2d112bd6641343828b0ba4d14f8d485","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93a8dee220ba327b5628e28569682a1f6f4d756c217be5ed16d7a5c32500878f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/93a8dee220ba327b5628e28569682a1f6f4d756c217be5ed16d7a5c32500878f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Charl Wright"},"description":"News Editor for The Cardiff Tab since 2022. MA Broadcast Journalism student at Cardiff Uni.","url":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/author\/charlottewright1\/"}]}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/filmshrine.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"This is the real reason one Harry Potter film faced a boycott, and it’s honestly wild","url":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/2025\/06\/04\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charl-Cover-Images-2025-06-03T174116.897.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Charl-Cover-Images-2025-06-03T174116.897.jpg"},"articleSection":"Entertainment","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charl Wright"}],"creator":["Charl Wright"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Film Shrine","logo":"https:\/\/cdn.filmshrine.com\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cropped-The-Tab_Film-Shrine_Favicon.png"},"keywords":["film","harry potter","netflix"],"dateCreated":"2025-06-04T10:11:21Z","datePublished":"2025-06-04T10:11:21Z","dateModified":"2025-06-04T10:11:21Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"This is the real reason one Harry Potter film faced a boycott, and it’s honestly wild\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/thetab.com\\\/filmshrine\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/04\\\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/thetab.com\\\/filmshrine\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/04\\\/this-is-the-real-reason-why-one-harry-potter-film-faced-a-boycott-and-its-honestly-wild\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.filmshrine.com\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/Charl-Cover-Images-2025-06-03T174116.897.jpg\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.filmshrine.com\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/Charl-Cover-Images-2025-06-03T174116.897.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Entertainment\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Charl Wright\"}],\"creator\":[\"Charl Wright\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"Film Shrine\",\"logo\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.filmshrine.com\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/cropped-The-Tab_Film-Shrine_Favicon.png\"},\"keywords\":[\"film\",\"harry potter\",\"netflix\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2025-06-04T10:11:21Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-04T10:11:21Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-04T10:11:21Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/filmshrine.com\/p.js"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1258"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetab.com\/filmshrine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}