JK Rowling had the Twitter world ablaze after her comments denouncing transgenders. There was a lot of backlash and actors from the Harry Potter films criticized the author.
Now we are seeing a lot of people protest Rowling by not buying her books, stores not selling her books, and websites denouncing her altogether. Rowling deserves all the criticism thrown her way. However, Harry Potter books should not suffer the same fate.
I am not saying that because I love the books. The artist and the art have to be separated. Rowling has mentioned her stance when it comes to transgender people a lot in the past. It is not the first time I have seen her get criticized for it. She even has a book where a character spouts transphobic ideas even though it doesn’t have anything to do with the book.
The good thing is that we don’t see that is the Harry Potter world. The books and Rowling’s beliefs don’t cross paths. Not selling Harry Potter books just hurts the readers that won’t get to experience the beautiful world of British wizards.
Harry Potter fan websites such as the Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet have said that they won’t provide links to Rowling’s personal website, use pictures of her, or even write about any of her achievements that don’t have anything to do with the Harry Potter world.
.That is brilliant because separating the two instead of thinking that they both must suffer the same fate is not helping anyone. Let’s be honest, Rowling is not even going to feel the impact of stores not selling her books. That form of protest doesn’t work in this scenario. The only ones losing out are the stores who will lose out on profit and the people that want to read the books.
Unlike a lot of work, the books don’t promote her ideas and beliefs. So protesting the books is pointless. You can love the books but not like Rowling or her stance. We all know the books have taken a life of their own and are much bigger than Rowling herself. So let’s keep reading Harry Potter and not let it become any bigger than the books.