• TGN's Newsletter
  • Posts
  • JK Rowling Removed From Harry Potter Museum Of Pop Culture Displays Due To Her Anti-Trans Rhetoric -TGN

JK Rowling Removed From Harry Potter Museum Of Pop Culture Displays Due To Her Anti-Trans Rhetoric -TGN

Summary

  • Author J.K. Rowling’s anti-trans comments have led to her exclusion from the Museum of Pop Culture’s Harry Potter exhibits.

  • The museum’s project manager, Chris Moore, clearly expresses his disapproval of Rowling’s views in a lengthy blog post explaining the decision.

  • The museum has chosen to remove Rowling’s name and likeness from various exhibits to minimize her impact as part of a short-term solution, but Moore is looking into more long-term solutions as well.

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is not included in the Seattle Museum of Pop Culture’s displays for the franchise due to past comments that have been deemed anti-trans. Based on Rowling’s beloved series of novels, the Harry Potter franchise would ultimately go on to become a major success for Warner Bros. While love for the movies and books continues, Rowling has become a divisive figure for her continued remarks about the trans community.

In a recent blog post shared by the Museum of Pop Culture, project manager Chris Moore explains that the controversial Harry Potter author will not be included in any of the museum’s franchise exhibits due to her anti-trans views. Rowling is not featured in any meaningful way in the museum, with Moore’s explanation making his thoughts on the author very clear. Check out a portion of the blog post below:

“There’s a certain cold, heartless, joy-sucking entity in the world of Harry Potter and, this time, it is not actually a Dementor. We would love to go with the internet’s theory that these books were actually written without an author, but this certain person is a bit too vocal with her super hateful and divisive views to be ignored. For the time being, the curators decided to remove any of her artefacts from this gallery to reduce her impact. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s what we were able to do in the short-term while determining long-term practices.”

J.K. Rowling’s Anti-Trans Controversy Explained

In 2019, Rowling supported a researcher who was fired for expressing anti-trans views. Rowling faced backlash for the decision, but would double down on her views in 2020 in a series of posts on Twitter. One notable tweet involved the author taking issue with one publication using the phrase “people who menstruate” instead of saying “women“.

While stressing her allegiance to the trans community, the author would continue to share rhetoric that was widely perceived to suggest exactly the opposite. One central issue that the author would continue to double down on is the idea that trans women are not women. Rowling’s views would subsequently divide the Harry Potter fanbase, with her comments earning her a great deal of backlash online.

Harry Potter stars like Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, among others, would all speak out against Rowling and her anti-trans viewpoints. Others, however, like Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, and the late Robbie Coltrane would defend the author. While Rowling remains a divisive figure, it’s clear that the author’s comments have drastically complicated many peoples’ relationship to the Harry Potter story and characters that she brought to life.