JK Rowling has acknowledged her “cancellation” after sharing a post celebrating her wedding anniversary.
The Harry Potter author has been met with strong backlash in recent years over her outspoken stance on trans women, which many LGBT+ spokespeople have deemed transphobic.
Rowling’s comments prompted stars of the Potter film franchise, including Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, to distance themselves from the author and her work.
On Tuesday (26 December), Rowling shared a photo alongside her husband, Scottish doctor Neil Murray, writing: “Married 23 years today.”
The author then shared a response she’d received that said: “I hope he leaves you for a trans woman,” to which she commented: “I just read this to Neil and he said something that made me laugh so hard I nearly coughed up a kidney.”
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When one of Rowling’s followers urged her to reveal what her husband had said, Rowling replied: “I’m not about to get my husband cancelled. One in the family’s enough!”
Rowling first made her stance on transgender women public in December 2019 when she tweeted in support of researcher Maya Forstater, whose job contract at think-tank Centre for Global Development was not renewed due to a series of tweets she had made questioning government plans to allow people to self-identify as another gender.
These initial remarks prompted backlash from fans of the author, who labelled Rowling a “terf” – an acronym that stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. Rowling has said she takes issue with this term.
The author, who has denied being transphobic, but previously stated she would rather go to jail than refer to a trans person by their preferred pronouns, went on to post an essay on her website titled “Terf Wars” about gender identity ideology.
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In this essay, she outlined five reasons to be “worried about the new trans activism”, and it received condemnation from Radcliffe and Watson.
Radcliffe, who played the lead character of Potter in the adaptation of Rowling’s novels, previously wrote an essay for The Trevor Project as a way of showing support for the trans community, and apologised “for the pain” Rowling’s comments have caused the Potter fandom.
Meanwhile, Watson, who played Hermione Granger, wrote: “I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are,” and appeared to make a dig at Rowling at the Baftas in 2022.
Rowling was asked in April 2024 if she would ever forgive the pair should they wish to say sorry for turning their backs on her, to which she told them “save their apologies” for “traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces”.
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