Harry Potter and the Ongoing Spat

[JsmeLegie]

I see she is now claiming that she was never actually friends with Fry.

Link here: https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/jk-rowling-stephen-fry-friends-b1234360.html

In support of Fry, barrister Jo Maugham stated “Really creditable this, from Stephen Fry. I've spoken to so many of JKR's once friends who now despair at her privately but won't do so publicly, which is very much the British way and why nothing ever changes for the better. So well done Stephen.”

Now Casey Bloys, CEO of the network working on a new HP series, has felt the need to clarify on a podcast that the forthcoming series won't be infused with her controversial views, insisting that her views are entirely separate to the show they're making.

And, as one of the latest celebrities to decide to speak out, Boy George weighed in at the beginning of the month with a few observations of his own (see attached image).

So the question here, really, is just how long are certain people going to blindly insist that JKR is an infallible saint when the (increasing) evidence from multiple sources is to the contrary?

Yes, she has funded a lot of good and charitable works for women, that is not in question, but at what point do we as a society finally agree that a human being is not absolved of horrendous behaviour in one part of their life simply because they compensate for it by doing a few good works in another?

Or perhaps you disagree entirely with all her detractors and feel she is unfairly treated / misunderstood / misquoted?
I'd like to hear your views. They are guaranteed to create an interesting dialogue.

So you started a thread entirely to attack JK Rowling. You have not put anything in your post proves JKR is a bad person. Instead you mentioned the fact four men have attacked her. So let's have a look at those men.

Stephen Fry, an old man dating a man 30 year his junior. Fry with very certain homosexual views on boys. What do you think of those views of his?

Joylyn Maugham a barrister made famous for beating a fox to death with a baseball bat while wearing his wife's kimono. A man who set up The Good Law Project and loses court case after court case, using public monies, which of course fund his own lifestyle as he pursues hopeless cases. Yet you believe he has actually spoken to JK's friends? He's a narcissist par excellence with his own brand of legal crusades.

Boy George who tied a male prostitute to a radiator and beat him. Like seriously you'll take his views on JKR.

Really you've done outstanding in your choice of men. Finally we get to Casey Bloys, who has entirely, correctly, said JKR's views will have nothing to do with the movie production. And?

By the way can you list the misbehaviours of JKR? Singularly missing from your post.

but at what point do we as a society finally agree that a human being is not absolved of horrendous behaviour in one part of their life simply because they compensate for it by doing a few good works in another?

This is so funny. Society is about as far away from agreement on this topic as it’s possible to be. The only way to shut JKR up would be to throw her in prison or worse.

I agree with this; I would rather engage than cancel people and their creative work. I worked in a creative field for a long time, and it is a naive fantasy that just because someone creates sublime art/music/plays or sings like an angel they must also be a nice person. Plenty of people in creative industries are really unpleasant people.

SF's views on child sexual abuse are not 'homosexual'. Most gay men are horrified by his opinions on this topic and many for years have fought to stop homosexuality being associated with paedophilia.

Beat me to it

If this is about my post, absolutely agree with you. But I don't want to type anything that might be banned. So I wrote about his 'very certain views' meaning his particular views. ~Sorry if that was not clear. And of course many gay men are indeed horrified by his opinions because they are abhorrent.

What an inept way to try and frame your strawman OP!

What's this "misbehaviour" of JKR?

Could you be specific?

I don't think she's an infallible saint, I just think she is correct (and funny).

This is probably a sensitive image.

Of course you can make a thread attacking JKR. Besides free speech there are other reasons we celebrate that here.

1 - Obsessive JKR haters have done wonders for her bank balance as she has said.

By trying desperately to cancel her they gave huge publicity to the Hogwarts game making it viral before it released. It is a decent, but not outstanding game it became no 1 world bestseller BECAUSE everyone haters and lovers of JKR like to talk about her and Harry Potter.

The huge success of the game was vital in signaling to Warners the TV series had to happen because it would make huge ammounts of cash, even if meant giving JKR a key role. Once again the JKR haters are making sure everyone knows it is coming.

2 - Even more than making JKR richer JKR haters are vital in another way. They make her words go viral. Everytime JKR says something pro-women someone writes an article either against or for her words. JKR trends again. The key thing as JKR is telling the truth we just need to keep getting her words out there and haters WANT TO HELP in that. The classic play is as follows.

A - I will just read the nasty spell words that evil witch JKR has been saying.
B - Oh I am a witch too now. How did that happen?

Because JKR haters can't but see her as the most evil woman in the world because they live in a bubble they don't get why they can't stop her. Fact is you created her, [look at how you all attacked her when she said some mild things] and you spend more time attacking her than any man who ever questioned trans stuff. Don't you think that is weird?

Why not create a thread attacking Trump, Putin or the Pope? Who has MORE power?

The reason there is a thread attacking JKR is women must be punished for wrong think. The only issue is when people notice that sexist stuff it just makes what is going on more obvious. Hence Mumsnet gets stronger.

Keep hating OP! Thanks for the help.

When you say Horrendous Behaviour OP do you mean the time when she took my last Rolo? I mean if she has asked she could have had it, but still.

It’s a strange and uncomfortable irony. Some gay men fought hard for the right to name and defend their sex-based attraction. To say, without apology, that they are men attracted to other men. That clarity mattered. It was a way of pushing back against shame.

And yet now, some of those same men seem oddly at ease with an ideology that tells women they can’t do the same. That when lesbians speak about same-sex attraction, or when women try to defend boundaries based on biological sex, they’re being exclusionary or unkind. The very language that once helped gay men claim their place is now treated as dangerous when women use it.

And yes, I think you're right to an extent: when there aren’t close, sustained ties to women (not just friendships, but the kind of daily labour that comes with family, care, or even shared organising) it’s easier to remain untouched by it all.

What’s more insidious is how this disregard often comes wrapped in progressive language. You see it in the way lesbians are mocked, in slogans like “not all women have vaginas” or in the knee jerk branding of women as bigots simply for recognising biological sex. It’s moral performance, not solidarity.

Of course, none of this means straight men aren’t misogynistic. Most violence against women still comes from them. But gay men aren’t exempt. Gayness doesn’t dissolve male entitlement. I think when it isn’t tempered by humility or genuine connection, when it isn’t anchored in engagement with women’s political realities, that entitlement doesn’t disappear. It simply finds a new form. Patriarchy in progressive dress…

Blimey, the opening post backfiring is absolutely deafening on this one 😄

What is this horrendous behaviour you refer to? Because if it’s merely stating uncomfortable truths and prioritising the safety and dignity of girls above other groups and being the only person with the balls to do so publicly then 😳

I wonder whether the opening post was intended for screenshotting and bragging on a different forum, either that ‘see, even on MN they’ve gone off JKR’ or else ‘see, I’m telling those mean mummies off’.

And didn’t BG keep a sex worker prisoner in his home once? Chained to a radiator? So o don’t think he can go moral high around with anyone

Yes OP, why is it always men I wonder?

Is this something to do with the opinion of men being worth more than the
testimony of a woman, even if they aren't particularly morally sound themselves? 'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone' and all that. Maybe you should get better men to make your case, have you thought of Billy Bragg?

Former convicted fraudster Fry? That arbiter of niceness?

That's exactly what the OP's post smacks of! No wonder they've crawled away...

All these silly kids who think they're clever because they know more now than they did when they were 15 are as pitiful as they are dull.

Most of the child stars of the films (apart from Tom Felton and Evanna Lynch) have slagged her off and agreed that Transwomen are indeed women in the hope of protecting their careers. Most of the established, adult stars have not condemned her at all.

Always mouthing off her opinions …

Won’t someone shut the damn witch up?!!

Also disagree she thinks her opinions matter more because she is rich. She is just pretty clear that if you want to go for her she can afford to see you in court. Thank fuck for witches like her 😁

Yes, I agree.

"This thread is intended solely for open discussion about the ongoing controversies raised against her by others"

translation: open discussion that I, the OP, am not going to engage in.

To be fair the OP reads like their still in sixth form so probably has no idea who Boy George is and just plucked his name off the internet where they saw him slagging JKR off.

Even I barley remember he exists these days and I lived through his "being a famous singer" phase.