JK Rowling Hits Back at Transgender Critics: 'I Do Not Care About My Legacy. I'll Be Dead'
© AP Photo / Joel C RyanIn this Nov. 13, 2018 file photo, author J.K. Rowling poses for photographers upon her arrival at the premiere of the film 'Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald', in London.
© AP Photo / Joel C Ryan
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Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been forced to contend with an avalanche of criticism from transgender activists and became the target for cancel culture over her unflinching stance in defense of biological women.
UK writer J.K. Rowling, best-known as the author of Harry Potter fantasy series, has adressed warnings that she should be worried how her views on people who identify as transgender might "taint" her legacy.
As she appeared on "The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling," a podcast owned by Bari Weiss's "The Free Press," the known feminist insisted that she "never set out to upset anyone" with her views on transgender people.
“However, I was not uncomfortable with getting off my pedestal,” she stated in the inaugural episode of the new seven-part podcast series. The first two episodes were released on February 21, offering interviews with the firebrand author's supporters, critics and the writer, 57, herself.
© AP Photo / Matt DunhamSotheby's director of the department of printed books and manuscripts Dr Philip Errington poses for photographers with a first edition copy of the first Harry Potter book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" containing annotations and illustrations by author J.K. Rowling, during a photocall organized for the media at the auction house's premises in London. (File)
Sotheby's director of the department of printed books and manuscripts Dr Philip Errington poses for photographers with a first edition copy of the first Harry Potter book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" containing annotations and illustrations by author J.K. Rowling, during a photocall organized for the media at the auction house's premises in London. (File)
© AP Photo / Matt Dunham
'I Care About the Living'
"What has interested me over the last ten years, and certainly in the last few years, last two/three years, particularly on social media, ‘you’ve ruined your legacy. Oh you could have been beloved forever but you choose to say this.' And I think you could not have misunderstood me more profoundly," JK Rowling told the host.
JK Rowling went on:
"I do not walk around my house thinking about my legacy. You know? What a pompous way to live your life, walking around thinking ‘what will my legacy be?’ Whatever. I'll be dead. I care about now. I care about the living."
The prolific author has been the target of an endless stream of criticism from transgender activists. A fresh bout was triggered lust last week, after an op-ed in US media offered an array of quotes from the writer where she spoke in defense of transgender people.
"Trans people need and deserve protection," "I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them," and other remarks had been pointed out, yet progressives argued the media report "should be ashamed for publishing this piece."
JK Rowling has been forced to deal with vicious attempts to "cancel" her over her outspoken position on transgender issues and biological sex. She has been accused of "transphobia" by activists and members of the LGBTQ + community. She was dropped from a list of 70 British and Commonwealth books to mark the now-late Queen's platinum jubilee in 2022.
Back in 2018, the writer liked a tweet that denoted transgender women as “men in dresses,” and in December 2019 displayed support to policy researcher Maya Forstater, who had been thrown out of her job for tweeting that “men cannot be women.” In June 2020, Rowling sarcastically reposted an op-ed piece from development NGO publicity website Devex, which referred to “creating equality for people who menstruate” following the coronavirus pandemic.
“People who menstruate… I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” she tweeted.
Since then, JK Rowling has been in the crosshairs of a cancel-culture backlash that has also made her the target of hundreds of rape and death threats.