Just when we thought she could go no lower, controversial author, J.K. Rowling, has once again reached the bottom. No matter what, the legacy of Harry Potter continues to be tarnished.
Despite themes of love and acceptance, Rowling has delved into hateful rhetoric more common with her villains than her heroes. She has incurred a list of controversies that inspired the actors from her own movies to speak out. After years of anti-trans speech, Daniel Radcliffe made a decided effort to take a stance against the author and support the community. All of this appeared to have no effect on Rowling. In addition to spouting vitriol about trans women, we can now add Holocaust denial to the list.
What has Rowling said about the Holocaust?
The place? X (formally known as Twitter.) The day? March 13 in the year of our lord 2024. The subject? Unfortunately another debate about trans issues. Rowling once again got fired up on the subject after one user brought up a widely known fact about Nazi Germany.
The user attempted to reason with Rowling’s sense of logic. How can anyone, no matter what their policies, side with ideals held by Nazis? The perpetrators of genocide targeted all types of people who did not adhere to their Aryan ideals. And yes, this includes trans people. It is widely documented that during the Holocaust, trans people were victimized as the Nazis got rid of any evidence that they existed.
Rowling was quick to refute the comment, not believing the user’s source. And therein lies the issue. Holocaust denial has become more and more prevalent in modern society, and many of the arguments start like this. Disregarding knowledge and logic.
Alejandra Caraballo replied to Rowling’s statement with a source from the Smithsonian Magazine, which in no uncertain terms discussed how Nazis targeted research that had to do with trans health. A recent court case determined that the trans community was one of the Nazis’ many victims during the Holocaust. The Museum of Jewish Heritage also discussed this at length in a panel conversation with Dr. Anna Hájková, Dr. Katie Sutton, and Dr. Bodie A. Ashton. This conversation stirred up discourse on the social media platform, as could be expected. Following Rowling’s comments, the community on the app rose to discuss the ramifications of her statements.
Star Trek star George Takei ultimately entered the chat to drop some truth on the firestorm of opinions. At the end of the day, when the author of your favorite children’s fantasy series starts making excuses for Nazis, things have taken a turn for the worse. Denying the Holocaust is about as low as you can get.