Museum of Pop Culture Removes JK Rowling's Exhibitions Over Harry Potter Author's 'Transphobic Views'
JK Rowling has been at the centre of transphobia accusations for many years. The Harry Potter author, beloved by many for creating the world of Hogwarts, has faced considerable backlash for her comments.
The Seattle based Museum of Pop Culture (MPC or MoPOC) which is dedicated as implied by its name to celebrate pop culture has removed all exhibitions of English author JK Rowling from its Harry Potter exhibition in light of her alleged 'transphobic views.' As reported by Deadline, the MOPC had previously published a blog explaining its decision to airbrush Rowling from its display, due to her controversial views and allegedly negative views. Brian Cox Says JK Rowling Is ‘Entitled to Her Opinion’ As the Actor Defends Her Amid Her Comments About Transgender Community.
Project manager Chris Moore, who is transgender, wrote in the piece, "There's a certain cold, heartless, joy-sucking entity in the world of Harry Potter and, this time, it is not actually a Dementor. We would love to go with the internet's theory that these books were actually written without an author, but this certain person is a bit too vocal with her super hateful and divisive views to be ignored."
"For the time being, the curators decided to remove any of her artefacts from this gallery to reduce her impact. It's not a perfect solution, but it's what we were able to do in the short-term while determining long-term practices." While initially the museum kept a memorabilia, in light of her socio-political controversies, the MOPC removed that as well, as such fully dusting her off the shelf. Hogwarts Legacy Introduces First Trans Character Despite JK Rowling's Anti-Trans Views and Fans Still Slam the Game for 'Sirona Ryan' - Here's Why.
Rowling has made no secret of her disdain for LGBTQ+ movement and its activists and while she has expressed her support for transsexual people, as well as the gay, lesbian and coloured community, she had said that gender is determined solely by biological sex, and as such cannot be altered on the basis of social identification.
For this comment she had received a lot of flak, including from her Harry Potter actors such as Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson all of whom said that they felt 'hurt' over Rowling’s comments. This led to her being barred from the 25th celebration of her first Harry Potter novel, The Philosopher’s Stone. In addition she also did not attend the Harry Potter re-union which marked two decades of the film franchise.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 06, 2023 07:36 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).