“Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling didn’t buy Russian Federation Vladimir Putin’s attempt to compare her to Russia this week and doesn’t think he should comment on “Western cancel culture,” according to a recent tweet.
“Critiques of Western cancel culture are possibly not best made by those currently slaughtering civilians for the crime of resistance, or who jail and poison their critics,” she said Friday.
Rowling also shared a BBC article about Alexei Navalny, a Putin critic who was poisoned and jailed.
According to CNN, “Putin complained about cancel culture during a televised video conference with cultural figures Friday,” and claimed that the West was trying to “cancel” Russia. During the speech, Putin – who opposes LGBTQ rights – compared Russia to Rowling, who has faced backlash for her comments about the transgender community.
“Apparently, under a Labour government, today will become We Who Must Not Be Named Day,” the author, who also writes the Corman Strike crime novel series under the penname Robert Galbraith, said just this month on International Women’s Day.
The GLAAD Accountability Project lists this and a number of Rowling’s comments regarding gender that have been criticized by the LGBTQ community and allies. Included is the condemning of her comments by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights group, which previously gave her an award.
“I have spoken with J.K. Rowling to express my profound disappointment that she has chosen to use her remarkable gifts to create a narrative that diminishes the identity of trans and nonbinary people, undermining the validity and integrity of the entire transgender community – one that disproportionately suffers from violence, discrimination, harassment, and exclusion and, as a result, experiences high rates of suicide, suicide attempts, homelessness, and mental and bodily harm,” said Kerry Kennedy, the group’s president.
Putin has made transphobic comments, such as his remark that it is “truly monstrous … when children are taught from an early age that a boy can easily become a girl and vice versa,” according to The Washington Post.
Despite being invoked in the Russian president’s speech, Rowling has been outspoken in her support for Ukraine since Russia began an invasion of the country last month. A fundraiser on her Project Lumos charity site is focused on helping children in Ukraine.
Since the invasion of Ukraine began, others have also compared Putin to Lord Voldemort, the villain from Rowling’s “Harry Potter” young adult book series. Graffiti of Putin styled as Voldemort has shown up in articles across the internet.
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