JK Rowling speaks out about death threats over transgender comments
'Media Buzz' host Howard Kurtz discusses the controversy over the Harry Potter author's remarks about transgender people on 'The Story.'
The BBC has greenlit a new season of a crime series by "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, where an online creator faces political condemnation that parallels her own.
Rowling has faced fierce backlash from critics and former fans because of her statements about biological sex. Rowling made headlines in June 2020 after sharing a series of tweets on her thoughts regarding the concept of sexual differences between men and women. "If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased," she tweeted at the time.
While she won fame for the "Harry Potter" series and Wizarding World fantasy media franchise, her newer work in crime-fiction has met major success as well. Rowling published a crime-fiction series following detective Cormoran Strike, which she published under the pseudonym, Robert Galbraith. The series was adapted for television under the name "Strike" in 2017 and has continued despite Rowling butting heads with transgenderism.
"Season six will adapt The Ink Black Heart, which has echoes of Rowling’s own experience," Deadline reported. "It centers on the murder of a successful YouTube animator after she becomes the target of relentless online hate. At one point, [the animator] is accused of being transphobic."
BuzzFeed lumped "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling in with "major villains" such as cult leader Jim Jones, infamous traitor Benedict Arnold and even O.J. Simpson because of her stance on transgenderism. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
Deadline went on to observe the similarity to Rowling’s own recent experiences.
"Rowling has been clear that the character is not based on her own life, but recognizes that she experienced similar online hate during and after writing the novel, published last August," Deadline noted. The author explained, "I wasn’t clairvoyant…. It was just one of those weird twists. Sometimes life imitates art more than one would like."
The Dark Arts at Hogwarts Castle Light Projection Show at Universal Studios Hollywood (NBCUniversal)
A video game set in the wizarding school of the "Harry Potter" series, "Hogwarts Legacy," met massive boycotts from trans activists. The official website for the game went so far as including a statement, "J.K. Rowling was not involved in the creation of the game, but as creator of the wizarding world and one of the world’s greatest storytellers, her extraordinary body of writing is the foundation of all projects in the Wizarding World," and went on to add, "This is not a new story from J.K. Rowling."
Deadline noted that the BBC itself, Britain’s state-run broadcasting network, has apologized to Rowling for how some have spoken about her on the network.
O3 Books' original dust jacket design for JK Rowling's 'Harry Potter' series. (Pathik Oza/O3 Books) ((Pathik Oza/O3 Books))
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"The BBC apologized twice to Rowling in February after two news shows failed to properly challenge the views of transgender women who said they were boycotting the Harry Potter video game Hogwarts Legacy because Rowling is ‘anti-trans,’" the outlet wrote. "The BBC said the discussions, broadcast on Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland, fell below ‘rigorous editorial standards.’"
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