J.K. Rowling is a case study for why you never meet your heroes. As a Harry Potter kid, it is sad to see her recent descent into transphobia, especially when Harry’s story was about being an outcast. Yet, her online behavior, which has implicated her in a new lawsuit, begs a pertinent question: can you separate the art from the artist?
My short answer is no, and let me explain why. I’m an artist too, and my art is an extension of my lived reality. That said, if you support my art, you also support my political views, which often show up in my art. Now, there are arguments that art is a-political, but I push back on those arguments with the simple fact that they are misinformed.
For centuries, art has been a tool of expressing oppression. In ancient Greece, the Medusa bust was a harrowing examination of that society’s rape culture. For a modern example, let’s look at Tupac. His art was very much an extension of his political views. “Brenda’s Got A Baby” was a powerful account of Black girl’s struggles with teen motherhood. “Keep Ya Head Up” was an empowering letter to Black women (no, not all women, as Tik Tok would have you believe). Now, every artist is not political, nor are they meant to be; but my point still stands. Artist’s art is part of them, and this is a hill I will die on.
I can live without the Harry Potter series if it means I don’t support a raging transphobe (and I don’t say that lightly). After all, Rowling just weaponized transphobia against a cis-gendered woman. Whether or not Rowling believes in the label CIS, her whole argument is about “biological women,” which Imane Khelif is.
People with discernment understand what’s happening here. Transphobia lacks logic, and it is often weaponized against CIS women. When Megan Thee Stallion was shot by Tory Lanez, people like rappers Cam’ron and 50 Cent utilized transphobia to mock the violence she faced. This situation underscored another important point: people know the violence that trans people face, and they are silent about it until it’s time to get their jokes off or spread moot talking points.
For J.K. Rowling, it was the latter. She is currently facing a cyberbullying lawsuit for her online hate campaign against Algerian boxer Imane Khelif. Sadly, though, this is just the most recent in Rowling’s vitriol against the trans community. A year ago, she noted that she would “happily” do prison time for her transphobic views, which pretty much says it all. Transphobia is dangerous, and Rowling happily traffics in endangering trans people.
After all, Khelif comes from a country accused of convicting people for homosexuality as recently as 2020. So, the mere insinuation of Khelif’s non-existent trans identity could have had dire consequences for the boxer. Following the lawsuit, we got twelve days of silence from Rowling, according to them.us. However, I highly doubt she’s learned her lesson; she has been at this for six years.
As allies to the trans community, it would be a disservice to continue entertaining Rowling’s transphobia. Instead, we center trans existences in real life and in our fictional universe. In Chaos and Magic, you will hear the term “Queen Prince” used quite often, which refers to our trans, non-binary protagonist Endor Shara. Beyond that, we will amplify trans voices on social media and in real life. That would be the demure thing to do, in the words of Jools Lebron.
Chaos and Magic 
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