Over the past few years, J.K. Rowling has turned herself from a hero to the millions of Harry Potter fans across the globe to, frankly, something of a villain, given that her outspoken views on trans issues have been widely viewed as transphobic, thereby doing considerable damage to the wholesomeness of the Wizarding World brand, which has affected the reception of such products as the Fantastic Beasts films and Hogwarts: Legacy.
Once upon a time, then, the only link you’d have between Harry Potter and Adolf Hitler was that Lord Voldemort was loosely based on him, but now Rowling is claiming that she herself has become “Literally Hitler” in the eyes of her critics, although she’s setting her sights on another historical bad guy next.
In an attempt to land a humorous blow against her opponents, but one that many will no doubt find completely unfunny, Rowling hit back at one tweeter claiming she’s “aligning ideologically with Stalin” by suggesting that she’s hoping to get compared to “Vlad the Impaler” by the year’s end.
In this tweet, Rowling is obviously lampooning the belief that she could have anything in common with Hitler. On a totally unrelated tangent, then, it’s worth mentioning that this May 6 marks the 90th anniversary of the brutal looting of Berlin’s Institute of Sexual Research, an academic foundation dedicated to homosexual advocacy and considered today to be the world’s first trans clinic. Hitler Youth troopers burned the facility’s entire library as part of the party’s concentrated attack on trans people and their place in society.
History lesson aside, Rowling’s sarcasm in the face of Hitler/Stalin comparisons and ambitions to be crowned Dracula follow on from her recent claim that she doesn’t care if her outspoken opinions tarnish her legacy for the rest of time. Not that she takes accusations of transphobia lightly, given that the BBC has had to issue several apologies at this point for labeling her rhetoric as “anti-trans.”
Rowling seems happy to encourage her enemies to get creative with their insults, though, and something tells us the internet will oblige.
Published: Mar 30, 2023 01:14 pm