Whenever someone sees J.K. Rowling brought up these days, it’s only in the context of controversy. Indeed, the very successful author has been the subject of various controversies in recent years, most of which spawning from her stances on the transgender community. Now it appears a New York Times ad campaign has taken advantage of this, prompting citizens to imagine Harry Potter without J.K. Rowling. It’s kind of an oxymoron, and in any case, J.K. Rowling supporters and certain Harry Potter fans have been lashing out against the ad on Twitter.
As you can see below, the advertisement shows a closeup of someone’s face with the following text:
“Lianna is
Imagining Harry Potter
Without Its Creator”
Here’s the ad:
There is a concerted effort to make women & girls terrified to speak up for ourselves & our rights.
But reality is reality. No one can actually physically change their biological sex & @jk_rowling created Harry Potter. You can imagine it different all you want, but it isn’t. pic.twitter.com/QxLgt9SNN1
— Sall Grover (@salltweets) February 19, 2022
As mentioned above, it’s kind of an oxymoron. But with fans and even Warner Bros attempting to distance the Harry Potter brand away from author J.K. Rowling, it isn’t exactly a surprising ad. But that doesn’t mean Rowling supporters are taking it well, and you can see some of their negative responses from social media below:
Here you are, Lianna.
This is Harry Potter without JK Rowling. pic.twitter.com/fEys4gHKmA
— Terferi's Ageless Insight (@Gerontia) February 19, 2022
.@nytimes runs ads asking people to "imagine Harry Potter without its creator." Sure, let's take a gifted writer's much-loved magnum opus and just forget she did the work to make it because she holds *majority and scientific* views on biological reality. https://t.co/oEoWR3LIXY
— Sarah A. Downey (@SarahADowney) February 21, 2022
https://twitter.com/AmandaHarperCat/status/1495514157382348803?
https://twitter.com/MCleaver/status/1495751776900980738?
It’s an interesting argument, however, because there are still many supporters that believe in distancing J.K. Rowling from the iconic literary and film brand. As such, they’re all in complete support of the New York Times ad that removes Rowling from the Harry Potter franchise. Here are some of their responses:
https://twitter.com/TheBluestStar/status/1495742626439565316?
no one discusses harry potter whenever JK Rowling is trending.
its all about her transphobia and how she has a right to be a bigot!
"you can't separate harry potter from jk rowling"
kinda already did.
— THROBBING GIRLDICK (I exist) (@notCursedE) February 19, 2022
https://twitter.com/KatyMontgomerie/status/1495007035007590402?
It certainly is an interesting development in the debacle that started years ago when J.K. Rowling first got on the nerves of the transgender community. With both cast members of the films and Warner Bros as a whole trying to keep the Harry Potter brand away from such controversies, it’s certainly going to be interesting to see where things go from here. Many upset fans have been trying to distance the author away from the property as a coping mechanism, and whether or not that succeeds in the end is yet to be seen.
In the meantime, the Harry Potter brand is still continuing even without J.K. Rowling at the center. As of this writing, a new film in the Fantastic Beasts spin-off series, titled Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, is scheduled for a release on April 15, 2022.