JK ROWLING DEFENDED HERSELF ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Author JK Rowling has attacked a trans video game journalist and producer who suggested boycotting new Harry Potter releases, including the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy video game.

Jessie Earl explained in a tweet on Saturday (December 17) that she doesn’t “envy anyone” for enjoying the Harry Potter books and films, but believes supporting media like Hogwarts Legacy would be “harmful.”

The self-declared ” TERFmas” tweeted in response with a seemingly hyperbolic statement claiming that she believes software development company “purethink is incompatible with owning ANYTHING related to me.”

“The truly righteous would burn not only their books and films, but also the local library, anything with an owl on it, and their own pet dogs.”

JK Rowling said at the time that she was “horrified” by people who wanted to read the Harry Potter books despite the author’s controversial comments on transgender rights.

“It’s all well and good until you get drunk and accidentally date one, sonny,” he wrote. “‘I’ve never done it in public’ won’t save you when the police see your Hufflepuff socks.”

Earl then responded to what he called a “honestly nonsensical argument” almost immediately, writing that he was taking a short break from “the Musk app” because he believed Rowling “knows she’s sending me harassment.”

Many pro-trans activists commented on Rowling’s post, saying her over-the-top response to Earl’s statement was unnecessary.

“How do you keep telling yourself you’re right when this is your reaction to a completely reasonable statement?” one user said.

Another wrote: “Surely you understand that people can choose how to spend their money, right?”

Others pointed out that Rowling was somehow comparing people who choose not to play a video game to burning books or local libraries.

“Who said anything about burning books?” wrote one user.

“Jessie Earl is not burning books, or stopping you from speaking on this powerful platform,” wrote another. “She is simply challenging your irrational bigotry.”

Aside from JK Rowling’s belief that not playing a video game is the equivalent of burning down local libraries – and her apparent belief that she somehow popularised owls – campaigners have found plenty of other reasons not to buy Hogwarts Legacy.

Some elements of the game’s plot have been widely criticized for incorporating elements of a well-documented controversy over anti-Semitism in the Harry Potter universe.

Early plot revelations seem to suggest that one of the main groups of villains will be the goblin race, which has been compared to anti-Semitic stereotypes promoted by the Nazis in the 1930s.