Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has sparked controversy in the past for her remarks towards the transgender community. Back in 2020 Rowling responded to a menstruation product ad on twitter. The ad said it was targeted to “people with periods”, Rowling responded,” People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

Immediately everybody on social media was quick to respond, stating they felt her wording was bad and her comments were transphobic. It brings up an interesting conversation when we see celebrities make these kinds of comments. Sometimes celebrities can get their careers ruined for scandals, but rarely does it ever stay a permanent punishment. Eventually celebs who were once deemed “cancelled”, suddenly have top charting songs, staring in block buster movies, and it’s as if their scandal ceased to exist. Rowling made these comments long after her successful book series had been published, but the legacy it had was still effecting todays society, and she might’ve ruined it all.

After her tweet, she went on to release a series of even more controversial tweets, she compared giving a child hormones to conversion therapy, as well as making it clear she found the appalled reactions humorous. A large sum of fans made posts about getting rid of their Harry Potter merch, as well as some even destroying the books they owned. Ever since, other than mentioning that she is transphobic, her name had rarely been mentioned, making everyone believe she had gone off into irrelevance.

However, recently she made headlines again for having controversial opinions and supporting controversial people. She showed her support for Caroline Farrow, an English far-right activist. Caroline Farrow is known for being anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti-trans. Many thought and hoped Rowling would turn over a new leaf regarding her opinions on the trans community, however many were disappointed to see her views remained the same.