J.K. Rowling arrives at the Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore world premiere at The Royal Festival Hall on March 29, 2022 in London. Photo / Getty Images
J.K. Rowling arrives at the Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore world premiere at The Royal Festival Hall on March 29, 2022 in London. Photo / Getty Images
Harry Potter author JK Rowling has addressed her controversial comments around transgender people in her new podcast, hitting out at those who claimed she “ruined” her legacy.
The first two episodes of The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling podcast were released today, in which the famous author claims she “never set out to upset anyone” by repeatedly sharing her opinions on gender ideology – some of which people have branded “transphobic”.
Rowling said what has “interested” her in the past few years, particularly on social media, is the people saying “you’ve ruined your legacy” and “you could have been beloved forever but you chose to say this”.
“I think you could not have misunderstood me more profoundly,” she said.
“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.”
Rowling became the centre of a PR storm when, in June 2020, she mocked an article using the phrase “People who menstruate”.
The billionaire author responded to the story on Twitter, “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
In response to the backlash she wrote a 3600 word essay explaining why she was so “worried about the new trans activism” and the effort “to erode the legal definition of sex and replace it with gender”.
Rowling became the centre of a PR storm when, in June 2020, she mocked an article using the phrase 'People who menstruate”'. Photo / AP
The author, who has strongly denied accusations of transphobia, described transgender woman having access to female bathrooms as “[throwing] open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman”.
Rowling’s 2020 novel Troubled Blood, which she published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, featured a cisgender male serial killer who dresses up as a woman to lure victims.
LGBTQI+ charity Mermaids branded this a “longstanding and somewhat tired trope, responsible for the demonisation of a small group of people”.
In the past she has also liked a tweet that referred to trans women as “men in dresses”.
Harry Potter cast members Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson have all spoken out in support of the trans community in the wake of Rowling’s comments.
(L-R) Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe attend the World Premiere of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 at Trafalgar Square on July 7, 2011 in London. Photo / Getty Images
The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling podcast, which is produced by the Free Press, is hosted by American political activist Megan Phelps-Roper.
Phelps-Roper appears to try and draw similarities between the threats she received from staunch right-wing religious groups who wanted to ban Harry Potter and the backlash she has been receiving from trans activists in recent years.
“What is it about this woman and her work that has captured the ire of very different groups of people across time?” the host says in the intro of the first episode Plotted in Darkness.
In 2000, Rowling and her team were forced to evacuate a book store during a signing because of a bomb threat by an alleged far-right religious fundamentalist.
In recent times, Rowling said she has had “direct threats of violence” made against her.
“I have had people coming to my house where my kids live, and I’ve had my address posted online. I’ve had what the police, anyway, would regard as credible threats,” she said in the podcast.
The famous author warned against the idea of “black and white thinking”, conceding that is it often the “easiest” and “safest” place to be for many people.
“If you take an all-or-nothing position on anything, you will definitely find comrades, you will easily find a community. What I feel very strongly myself [is]: we should mistrust ourselves most when we are certain. And we should question ourselves most when we receive a rush of adrenaline by doing or saying something,” Rowling said.
She continued: “Many people mistake that rush of adrenaline for the voice of conscience. In my worldview, conscience speaks in a very small and inconvenient voice, and it’s normally saying to you: ‘Think again, look more deeply, consider this.’”
The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling podcast will be made up of seven episodes, with the next five to be released weekly on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other audio platforms.
