The reboot of the entire Harry Potter franchise and all the stuff related to Hogwarts and the Wizarding World is getting closer as HBO officially announces the 'Golden Trio' new cast, but it still remains hugely controversial. Much of it has little to do with art, literature or, if you prefer, magic.
It's no secret that J.K. Rowling has always been against transgender people and everything related to them, devoting even more public attention to her ''crusade" in recent years than to her own books. So now, as the public's attention is drawn to the franchise reboot, the author has once again made a dubious statement.
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Joanne Rowling, the author of Harry Potter books, sparks another heated debate related to transgender people
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JKR firmly believes that transgender people somehow undermine the rights of biological women, and has made this her hill to die on
In recent years, Rowling has spoken out a lot on the topic of transgender people on her X account, paying much more attention to it than to the Harry Potter books that made her world famous. The writer firmly adheres to the belief that trans women shouldn't be equated with biological women, and that such a policy allegedly infringes on their rights.
Of course, each of us is free to believe what we consider to be the truth, but in Rowling's case, this has sometimes turned into outright bullying, quite worthy of one of her most disgusting characters, Professor Dolores Umbridge. For example, during the Paris Olympics last year, the writer took a controversial view that Algerian female boxer Iman Khelif was allegedly a trans woman.
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Rowling repeatedly called Khelif "male" without reason and published highly controversial posts about her performances at the boxing tournament. As a result, after her victory at the Games, Khelif even filed a lawsuit for cyber harassment, with Rowling as one of the defendants. Needless to say, JKR's work has also fallen victim to her beliefs.
For example, all three actors who played the main roles in the original film series, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, have repeatedly expressed their support for the trans community, thereby entering into conflict with the author of the books. Radcliffe later told that he hasn't communicated with Rowling for many years - precisely because of her uncompromising position.
Image credits: İlayda Coşkun / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Recently Rowling decided to create a private foundation for funding various initiatives related to anti-trans policies
However, even repeated calls for a boycott of her books haven't actually led to any serious financial losses for Rowling. Her fortune exceeds a billion dollars, and she has more than once sarcastically encouraged activists to burn her books - after all, to do this, they first need to be bought, which, in fact, means she will receive royalties in any case.
The writer recently announced that she plans to create a private foundation, which, as she herself states, "offers legal funding support to individuals and organisations fighting to retain women’s sex-based rights in the workplace, in public life, and in protected female spaces." Moreover, JKR plans to direct her fortune from the upcoming Harry Potter series to this foundation too.
The writer illustrated her decision with a photo of her having a drink and holding a cigar (a traditional gesture of approaching inevitable victory, historically inspired by the legendary manager of the NBA Boston Celtics Red Auerbach), with the following words: "I love it when a plan comes together."
However, this statement also caused a storm of criticism. For example, the famous actor Pedro Pascal, whose younger sister Lux is a trans woman, called on his fans not to buy anything related to the Wizarding World anymore, as well as to boycott the HBO series and the Universal Studios theme parks. “It’s time to tell these corporations that transphobia loses money," Pascal claimed online.
This idea sparked massive debate online, and many famous people, among whom was the star actor Pedro Pascal, urged people to boycott everything related to the Wizarding World
If you look at the netizens' reaction to this news, most of them are actually more in solidarity with Pascal than with Rowling. Many people in the comments lamented that Rowling has made this very topic her own hill to die on, and that she could've actually spent her money on many more worthy causes - for example, supporting orphaned or bullied children. Such as Harry Potter was himself...
In general, many people online agreed that the fight against transgender rights has become something of an obsession for Mrs. Rowling, something like what personal immortality and "purity of magical blood" once became for the young, talented Hogwarts student Tom Riddle. Is it worth reminding what this led him to? Probably not... So what do you, our dear readers, think about this whole story?
Many netizens also criticized Rowling for her implacable position, claiming that she could better spend her money on something truly noble
