JK Rowling under fire for book about YouTube creator who is murdered for being transphobic
JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, is facing backlash for transphobic sentiments in her latest book The Ink Black Heart.
The book, written under Rowling’s oft-used writer pseudonym Robert Galbraithe, officially hit shelves on Tuesday.
Critics are calling it out for featuring a transphobic, racist, and ableist character that appears to be a reflection of JK Rowling herself.
The 6th book in the Strike series, #TheInkBlackHeart, is out today!
🖤🍂🖤🩸🖤🪦🖤💀🖤💔🖤 pic.twitter.com/pw2Y4rEfFU— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 30, 2022
Named Edie Ledwell, the character is a creator on YouTube who makes a cartoon about a “hermaphrodite worm” and is persecuted relentlessly by critics for it. Ledwell is doxxed — her private information, including her address, is posted online — and ultimately, she’s killed by the bullies.
J.K. Rowling wrote a self-insert character as a racist and transphobic animator who makes content on the internet in her newest book. Everything goes downhill from here. pic.twitter.com/348okMrc9B
— Crimson Mayhem (@Crimson_Mayhem_) August 30, 2022
In the past, Rowling has received backlash and threats for her thoughts on transgender people, particularly trans women. She’s also been criticized for racist bits in her work.
JK Rowling released a new book today about a YouTube animator that gets stabbed to death for making racist and transphobic animations and it is 600 pages longer than Dune
— kenzie (@pk_kenzie) August 30, 2022
The book is over 1,000 pages long.
jk rowling’s book : https://t.co/6FHGeEVWKq pic.twitter.com/KGFtoOkzTp
— LEHA 🏳️🌈✨ tired and bored (@veegender) August 29, 2022
Since its release and a review in Rolling Stone, Rowling has been spending hours on Twitter responding to critics.
jk rowling releasing a transphobic book under her transphobic pseudonym about being bullied online for being transphobic is beyond parody. youre a multi-millionaire. log off
— zach silberberg (@zachsilberberg) August 30, 2022
While the hashtag #IStandWithJKRowling has trended several times on the microblogging website before — mostly by people who have the same thoughts as the author on transgender people — many are now using the hashtag #ICantStandJKRowling to air out their reservations about the author’s politics and the effect her work can have on persecuted minorities.
JK Rowling is a privileged mega rich white woman who has used her power to worsen hate at the one of the world’s most stigmatised minorities. She is no victim. #ICantStandJKRowling
— Jack Duncan 🏳️🌈 (@JackDunc1) August 29, 2022
J.K. Rowling claims to be opposed to self-ID, yet still self-identifies as having been stabbed by trans people. Curious.
— Just a frog (@RedAndBlackFrog) August 31, 2022
After an altered screenshot of a potentially transphobic tweet from Rowling went viral, the author threatened the person who shared it with legal action, resulting in them making their account private and deleting the tweet.
.@KEBrightbill This fake tweet was created when I deleted an entirely different Tweet with a typo in it, then reposted. The creator claimed this what what I deleted. I am asking you to delete this defamatory claim and acknowledge the truth. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/cqkSN7Tyuc
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 31, 2022
My lawyers would also very much like to know the identity of your ‘real life’ friend who ‘screenshotted’ it herself. As this Tweet never came from my account, she can’t have captured it in the form it appears here. 2/2
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 31, 2022
In an interview with Graham Norton, Rowling denied basing the character on herself.
“I should make it really clear after some of the things that have happened the last year that this is not depicting [those],” she said.
“Everything this woman writes and speaks is vitriol disguised as prose,” wrote a commenter under the interview video.
What are your thoughts?