A miscommunication on social media is leading to more negative headlines for Harry Potter architect J.K. Rowling. The British author has been swept up in an avalanche of bad press following comments she has made regarding transgender women. Today, Stephen King seemed to support her position. Or so Rowling thought. Only, King didn’t… and now Rowling is deleting tweets and catching a lot of heat for it.
In the middle of a longer Twitter thread, Stephen King seemed to lend support to J.K. Rowling’s position by retweeting a tweet of hers. Rowling quickly replied with a favorable Tweet aimed at King, claiming that she is reaching Annie Wilkes levels of fandom, a Misery nod. Except, instead of standing in line with Rowling, Stephen King replied:
And because it seems to be that case that J.K. Rowling disagrees with that sentiment, she deleted the Tweet praising King. Then unfollowed him. And then reportedly blocked him on social media.
J.K. Rowling has been receiving negative criticism for a series of Tweets she posted debating what made someone a “woman” in binary terms. The author’s stance on transgender women has been interpreted as transphobic, and instead of backtracking on the statement, Rowling has double- and tripled down on the sentiments.
This has prompted several prominent people from the Harry Potter community to speak out against J.K. Rowling’s statements, and show strong support for the transgender community. Daniel Radcliffe, who portrayed Harry on screen, stated:
Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.
Emma Watson also weighed in, stating:
Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.
It was a whirlwind series of events that had J.K. Rowling believing she had a new ally in Stephen King, only to realize that she was mistaken, and overcorrect on the error.
