Content warning: This letter mentions transphobia, racism and antisemitism.
Dear JK Rowling,
Can you shut up? Please. Deactivate your Twitter account, too. The world would be a better place without you screaming online all day. Just because you started published the Harry Potter series 25 years ago doesn’t mean anyone still cares what you have to say. None of your books after the Harry Potter series have done as well as the initial bestsellers because you aren’t as good as you think you are. Not only that, you managed to create the only type of person as cringeworthy as Disney adults. It’s almost an accomplishment. Almost.
You could have just disappeared into the background with all of the millions you have left over, and you would still have a modicum of respect — but no, you have become so universally disliked that Vladimir Putin is one of the only people left defending you. Being defended by a man so evil should, at least, give you pause. Your crusade to defend “traditional femininity” by attacking transgender children is insane. They have every right to exist and be supported fully. You donated so much money that you made yourself fall from being a billionaire to a millionaire, something that should have cemented your status as a good person. By doing so, you could have just disappeared into relative obscurity, but instead you shredded your own public image with your transphobic tirades.
One of your most irritating habits is your weird proclivity of tweeting unnecessary additions to the books. Tweeting that there was a singular Jewish Hogwarts student named Anthony Goldstein does not eliminate the thinly veiled antisemitism that was the basis for every goblin character in the series. If you really valued diversity and representation, all of these “additions” to the books should have been present when the series was first published. Your lack of interest in creatively working in good representation is blatant when considering Cho Chang, a character whose name is made of two surnames that aren’t even derived from the same language. Beyond obvious racism and antisemitism, you wrote characters whose entire personalities are based upon harmful cultural stereotypes. For example, the only Irish student in the series with a significant presence is Seamus Finnegan, who has a habit of accidentally creating explosions with spells. Even when there are characters of color, like Dean Thomas, their character development lacks any real substance and is largely forgettable.
Despite the long list of problems with you and your work, seeing you make an appearance and be embraced at the red carpet premiere for ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ last week was still jarring. To what lengths will society go to forgive your near constant stream of offensive tweets just to satiate their need for nostalgia?
Love,
Mallory Smith FP ’24