Warner Bros. “regrets any offense” The Witches caused the disability community

Warner Bros. kinda-sorta apologizes after disability advocates call out The Witches, although it’s one of those “we’re sorry if you’re offended” apologies.

Last week, HBO Max released The Witches, a new adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book, this one directed by Robert Zemeckis and co-written by Guillermo del Toro. Despite an enjoyably vampy performance from Anne Hathaway as the Grand High Witch, critics and audiences alike mostly said “meh” to the movie. However, it has gone on to get the bad kind of publicity after para-Olympians and disability advocates called it out for conflating being disabled with being a monster.

Specifically, the criticism comes over the depiction of the Grand High Witch as having three fingers, something she did not have in Dahl’s book. Her hands resemble those of people with the limb abnormality ectrodactyly, also known as “split hand,” usually identifiable by the absence of one or more central digits on the hand or foot.

The callouts came from a variety of sources, including Coronation Street actor and disability advocate Melissa Johns…

…Paralympic swimmer Amy Marren…

…and the official Paralympic Games twitter account:

“Is this the kind of message we want the next generation to receive,” disability advocate Shannon Crossland asked on her Instagram. “That having three fingers is a witch’s attribute? It is an extremely damaging portrayal. Disability should NOT be associated with evil, abnormality, disgust, fear or monsters.”

Now, Warner Bros. has issued a statement to Deadline. It’s sort of an apology, although it’s one of those “I’m sorry if you’re offended” kinds:

"We the filmmakers and Warner Bros. Pictures are deeply saddened to learn that our depiction of the fictional characters in THE WITCHES could upset people with disabilities, and regret any offense caused. In adapting the original story, we worked with designers and artists to come up with a new interpretation of the cat-like claws that are described in the book. It was never the intention for viewers to feel that the fantastical, non-human creatures were meant to represent them. This film is about the power of kindness and friendship. It is our hope that families and children can enjoy the film and embrace this empowering, love-filled theme."

Big companies and public figures apologizing for goof-ups has become a time-tested art, and I don’t this one passes muster. To start, the words “we’re sorry” don’t appear; the closest it gets is saying that the filmmakers are “saddened to learn” that their movie was even capable of offending people, which is a far cry from saying they’re sorry they offended people, even if it was the result of carelessness.

Gonna have to give this one a C-.

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