Director Peter Jackson issued the following statement in regards to the Turkish court case in which a physician risks jail time for comparing the Turkish president to images of Gollum:
“If the images ... are in fact the ones forming the basis of this Turkish lawsuit, we can state categorically – none of them feature the character known as Gollum. All of them are images of the character called Sméagol.
“Sméagol is a joyful, sweet, character. Smeagol does not lie, deceive, or attempt to manipulate others. He is not evil, conniving, or malicious – these personality traits belong to Gollum, who should never be confused with Sméagol. Sméagol would never dream of wielding power over those weaker than himself. He is not a bully. In fact he’s very loveable.”
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