JK Rowling responds to local 'work of genius' Harry Potter parody

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HOGWARTS — After a Harry Potter parody video made by Brigham Young University students went viral, J.K. Rowling commented on it Thursday, calling the video “a work of genius.”

Andrew Carver, a BYU senior and creative director for BYU’s Adlab, teamed up with BYU grad student Keith Allen to create the video. Allen had previously created another successful parody video and the group decided to create a Harry Potter parody of Marc Ronson’s “Uptown Funk.”

The brainstorming and collaboration for the video began in December 2014 and BYU’s Young Ambassadors member Elijah Thomas was recruited to play the role of Voldemort. “Dark Lord Funk” was posted to YouTube on March 23 and has since garnered over 6 million views.

When J.K. Rowling was asked on Twitter if she had seen the video, she responded in a tweet saying, “Yes, I’ve seen it, and in my opinion it is a work of genius.”

.@JasmineMilton_ Yes, I've seen it, and in my opinion it is a work of genius. — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 26, 2015

Other Harry Potter celebrities also took to Twitter to give their feedback on the video, [including Jason Isaacs](https://twitter.com/jasonsfolly/status/581382989503959040) who plays Lucius Malfoy in the movies.

Funking amazing...sheer unadulterated genius. Even without a Malfoy in sight (did they think we'd come after them?!). http://t.co/vx6AQtOXAl — Jason Isaacs (@jasonsfolly) March 27, 2015

Carver said when he heard about J.K. Rowling's reaction to their video, he yelled in excitement.

"All of us are deeply humbled by the whole thing and to have J.K. Rowling — the author of ‘Harry Potter,' the person who created it — give you her stamp of approval and say that what you did is a work of genius, it doesn't really get too much better than that," Carver said. "When we heard that, all of us were kind of on cloud nine for that day. It was really fun. We kind of had to duct tape our jaws shut because they were just wide open all day after seeing that."

Carver said that although the group thought their video had the potential to compete with other parody Harry Potter videos, they didn't think "it would blow up the way that is has."

He said that a future parody is "definitely a possibility."

Inspired by the viral video, custom-apparel company Solid City also started making T-shirts with the phrase, “Dark Lord, Funk You Up.” The song is also available on iTunes.

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Faith Heaton Jolley

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