JK Rowling bullies trans gamer off Twitter over Hogwarts Legacy


Harry Potter author JK Rowling has twisted from beloved children’s author to worldwide villain. The author’s campaign against transgender rights has caused thousands to become disenfranchised with Rowling and the Harry Potter/Wizarding World universe as a whole.

Nevertheless, there are some who are still looking forward to Harry Potter content, specially the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy game. However, supporting the game’s release has proved to be an ethical dilemma for those who aim to be allies of the trans community.

Popular trans journalist, writer and video creator Jessie Earl recently spoke up on the subject, calling support of the new game harmful. In response, JK Rowling sent her online mob to the content creator, resulting in them being bullied off social media.

Earl’s initial post damning Hogwarts Legacy only made issue with those planning to support the game while knowing of Rowling’s attacks on transgender people. The journalist made sure to note that owning previously acquired Harry Potter products doesn’t immediately make you a bad person.

“I will not begrudge anyone their love of past works or [a] thing they already own that they take comfort in,” she said. “I own the first 9 movies and all 7 books myself. But any support of something like Hogwarts Legacy is harmful.”

Misconstruing the original tweet, Rowling told her fans that Earl believes owning anything connected to the author is bad. In a sense, Rowling’s tweet is a complete opposite of what Earl originally said.

“Deeply disappointed @jessiegender doesn't realise purethink is incompatible with owning ANYTHING connected with me, in ANY form,” Rowling tweeted. “The truly righteous wouldn't just burn their books and movies but the local library, anything with an owl on it and their own pet dogs.”

Following the JK Rowling tweet, the Harry Potter author’s fanbase immediately turned to harass Jessie Earl. As Earl posted on Twitter, multiple fans sent death threats, threats against her family and other harmful messages.

One email, titled “I’m gonna murder your family”, threatened violence against the journalist’s mother. Another message said that transgender people should “be stoned” for merely existing.

After the slew of harmful messages, Earl announced that she would be distancing herself from social media. While still vaguely active on Twitter, Earl has massively reduced her social media output following her attack from JK Rowling fans.

“Still staying away from Twitter cause my mentions are not good but I wanted to thank everyone for the kindness sent me,” Earl said. “In the face of hate; community, solidarity, and caring are always stronger. And if you're curious, here is a response to Rowling.”

While diehard Harry Potter fans still stand behind Rowling, there are many that are simply agnostic on the matter. Many believe they can separate the media from the author, even if new medias directly support her.

Whether or not someone purchases Hogwarts Legacy or not is up to them. However, it’s telling that Rowling has decided, yet again, to go on the offensive in order to “protect” her brand, even though she’s the one destroying it.

For more articles like this, take a look at our News, Gaming, and Entertainment pages.