In 2013, J.K. Rowling explained how she chose her now-controversial pseudonym, “Robert Galbraith.” The first name, she said, was a nod to her political hero, Robert Kennedy. And the last name? “When I was a child, I really wanted to be called Ella Galbraith, I’ve no idea why.” It’s a charming anecdote—but unfortunately, Rowling shares her pseudonym with real-life psychiatrist Robert Galbraith Heath, who in the 20th century pioneered what we now call conversion therapy using techniques including electroshock and “brainwashing” drugs. Rowling’s anecdote, issued before her alternate name choice had stirred much mainstream controversy, casts this tie as sheer, if […]
J.K. Rowling
8 posts
It was the letter that launched a thousand tweets. Maybe even ten thousand—many of them, as happens so often on social media, brimming with insults and recrimination. And that doesn’t even account for several impassioned essays, some pro but mostly con, that the so-called “Letter on Justice and Open Debate” has provoked among the self-avowed intelligentsia—a tiny yet purportedly influential group of academics, artists, philosophers and journalists—since it was released on Tuesday by Harper’s magazine. “The controversy surrounding the letter shows the venom that these anodyne statements produced—statements that wouldn’t have been inflammatory ten years ago,” Harper’s Vice President Giulia Melucci […]
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of…a bunch of wealthy blowhards deciding that now, of all times, is the appropriate moment to ask us all to stop being so mean to them on Twitter. On Tuesday, Harper’s Magazine—the musty magazine of choice for musty magnates—published a ridiculous and delusional open letter signed by such luminaries as J.K. Rowling, Bari Weiss, David Brooks, Jesse Singal, and Malcolm Gladwell. The purpose of this screed? Ostensibly, to encourage “open debate.” But upon closer inspection, the upshot appears to […]
This is a preview of our pop culture newsletter The Daily Beast’s Obsessed, written by senior entertainment reporter Kevin Fallon. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox each week, sign up for it here. The Muggles Are Acting Up If you’re a person in this world, there is a high probability that something you like was canceled this week. Maybe it was the creator of a beloved series of young adult books who cemented her bigoted views about the transgender community. Maybe it was quaint cooking videos on YouTube with institutional blind spots toward race that were plain to see, […]
“I think we can Google ‘Laverne Cox’ and see how often I respond to individuals,” actress and activist Laverne Cox, whose Netflix documentary Disclosure is released next week, says. The individual she is referring to in this instance is Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling, whose recent series of dangerous transphobic statements have dominated headlines and been staunchly condemned. “I love individuals. I love people, I love human beings,” Cox tells The Daily Beast. “But I’m critical of ideologies. And I’m critical of systems of oppression. And when I think about the comments to which you allude, I think about how power […]
Could someone please, for the love of God, teach J.K. Rowling how to read the room? Over the weekend, as protests calling for the protection of black lives spread across the world, the Harry Potter author took a moment to fire off a transphobic tweetstorm mocking the use of non-gendered language and insisting that “erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives.” And on Wednesday, hours after yet another Harry Potter actor disavowed her comments, Rowling tripled down in a blog post that attempts to characterize her views as feminism. In reality, it’s a […]
Eddie Redmayne has joined a growing numbers of actors from the Harry Potter universe to critique J.K. Rowling’s recent anti-trans tweets. The Fantastic Beasts actor addressed the controversy with a statement, in which he wrote, “Respect for transgender people remains a cultural imperative… “I disagree with Jo’s comments. Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid.” On Saturday Rowling mocked an op-ed titled “Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.” “‘People who menstruate,’” Rowling wrote. “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” […]
While tens of thousands around the world marched for justice and equality on Saturday, author J.K. Rowling decided to tweet about the phrase, “people who menstruate.” Her tweet, however, backfired bigger than the Avada Kedavra spell in her Harry Potter novels. Then, in the face of a swift backlash, the novelist doubled-down: she claimed to be both a supporter of transgender rights and a victim of hate. And she gave the most clear indication yet that she stands with feminists who will not accept trans women are women and trans men are men. Rowling apparently never read Zoyander Street’s 2016 essay […]