Loyle Carner & JKR

[CarotidFartery]

Picked up a car of teens from Boardmasters last week and was really bothered to overhear some of their conversations.

Among the over stimulated wittering they were talking about how much they liked Loyle Carner and they loved it when he shouted that he hated Nigel Farage and the crowd roared, and then when he shouted about hating JKR and everyone whooped.

I was 🤨 and pointed out that rabble rousing and shouting about 'hating' specific people should generally be avoided. There were some mutterings about her deserving it and then the conversation moved on.

I chose my moment to broach the subject with the teen that belongs to me this week. They doubled down a bit and said, "but isnt she racist and homophobic and transphobic?" So we had a conversation about not forming our opinions from myth and rumour, and maybe pondering why a middle aged feminist was the priority for slagging off to a crowd of impressionable teens. Of all the people in all the world to raise a rabble against?!

I have googled and it seems this is an integral part of his act. There doesn't seem to be much commentary about it online though.

I've never heard of him, but from what you say it sounds like he's telling them what they want to hear. I wonder what would happen if he (and others like him) praised JKR for standing up for women. Would there be teens in the audience who actually know the facts and would have the courage to say, "Yes, he's right," or would he get booed himself?

What was the outcome of the conversation? How is she “racist”, I’m imagining it’s some nonsense about Harry Potter characters.

There was absolutely nothing to the alleged isms/phobias except 'someone said she did/is'

Indeed. Hardly courageous truth telling, just bandwagon jumping.

I did point out that a person who has single handedly funded a women's refuge and support service, and founded Lumos for disadvantaged children is not the most obvious candidate for a public slagging off.

I've never heard of this Loyle Carner and have no dea what Boardmasters is either (something to do with surfing?), so I can't imagine the context. Which probably makes no difference at all.

Once you could have asked them if they thought it might be better to look at the evidence themselves before making a decision but modern education doesn't seem to place any faith in evidence, so 'everybody knows it's true' is probably what they're used to. Never to late to start, though.

Boardmasters is a big music and surfing festival in Newquay. It happens every August and is a well know post GCSEs/A Levels celebration/right of passage. The vast majority of those attending are teens and early twenties

Meh it's just the latest incarnation of the muppets singing "ooooh Jeremy Corbyn" at every opportunity at Glastonbury a few years ago. Slagging off JKR comes from the same tediously performative place

he's a 31 year old hip hop singer, I doubt he's remotely stretched his brain to think of why women might need single sex spaces

Hopefully thanks to your intervention OP your teen now understands a bit better

It is sad that some kids believe this nonsense but considering the amount of mud that is thrown at her, I do not think that much is sticking, the Harry Potter juggernaut keeps rolling on. Every boycott that has been launched at her has failed dismally and the new TV series will continue the legacy of the book and the films for a new generation

I honestly think that in a few years time all this rubbish will be forgotten, her role in saving women's spaces solidified and she will be more popular than ever.

I hope so!

I agree.

And hopefully these teens will reflect on how easily they were told what to think and join in with.

He has a song called Horcrux. It appears he needs to get in a sexist anti-JKR comment when he performs it.

I usually like him and he's bright enough to know better. He does No Cds, the song Romesh usually comes on to.

I pointed out the blatant sexism in this to teen DD.

I had no idea who he was before they spoke about him but I do know that song.

The teens were saying he came across well and did shout outs related to Neuro Divergence too.

Shame he used his platform this way!

A few years ago JKR was in a far worse position

The likes of Emma Watson and the other ones were taking cheap shots. I doubt they would have the courage to pipe up now.

The court cases that she helped launch and fund have made a huge difference as they have proven there is nothing hateful about these views

Ignorance about what JKR's views aren't just confined to teens, unfortunately. My older brother made a comment recently saying it's a shame they way JKR has turned out. When I asked him to elaborate on what she has said/done, of course he had no clue.

The TRAs spread huge amounts of misinformation about those cases.

There's a thread running currently about JKR's alleged transphobia. Not a single piece of evidence has been produced to support it. One of the desperate attempts to smear her is on attached screenshot. Indicates that there is not just a lack of critical thinking in some trans rights activists, but also no sense of humour and extremely poor comprehension of the written word.

Fgs

Fgs

Apparently people have said that ethnic minority people at Hogwarts are underdeveloped or stereotypical and don't have big enough roles in the books. That's all I can find on the racism allegation.

And against that she spoke in support of a black actress playing Hermione in her play.

This just goes to show how fragmented fandom and youth culture is. I asked my teenage kids (massive trap / hip hop fans who regularly go to gigs in Camden/Brixton/Wembley/Shoreditch) who Loyle Carner was. They said 'who?'

He's 31. That's ancient. All the artists they listen to were born this century.

On the other hand all they've been talking about this week is Royce White and the WNBA transgender policy. They think it's hilarious. It's been great for peaking teenage boys.

Yes like Zuby did 7 years ago, not with quite as wide a reach, but it went viral and he definitely had his 15 mins.

<a class="break-all" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200929034946/www.wqad.com/article/news/local/drone/8-in-the-air/male-rapper-identifying-as-female-informally-breaks-female-dead-lift-record-to-prove-a-point/526-4e1a441e-42e4-417b-9fca-e1cb6a3574f3" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20200929034946/www.wqad.com/article/news/local/drone/8-in-the-air/male-rapper-identifying-as-female-informally-breaks-female-dead-lift-record-to-prove-a-point/526-4e1a441e-42e4-417b-9fca-e1cb6a3574f3

I've seen JKR criticised for calling Cho Chang, Cho Chang. No, I don't know what's wrong with that either.

There's also criticism of presenting the Irish kid (Seamus Finnegan) as being fond of explosions. Until someone points out that this only happens in the films 🫠

Yes, that's exactly it.

The books are quite old now so it's easy to pull out little bits which maybe today would be written differently.