Home » Entertainment

‘Harry Potter’ Fans Crucified for “Cringeworthy,” “Transphobic” Gathering

in Harry Potter

Posted on by Jess Colopy 1 Comment
Left: Crowds gather at Kings Cross Station in London for a 'Harry Potter' event. Right: J.K. Rowling smiles, looking to the side.

Credit: @uktravel / ABC

Thousands of Harry Potter fans gathered at Kings Cross Station in London on Friday to celebrate the fictional first day of school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Though the group cheered for the station’s official Wizarding World-inspired announcement, thousands online slammed attendees for publicly supporting J.K. Rowling.

Rowling, sometimes known as Robert Galbraith, has gone from one of the most beloved children’s authors of all time to perhaps the most controversial.

Harry Potter daniel radcliffe
Credit: Warner Bros

She’s most famous for authoring the Harry Potter series, which went on to inspire eight movies, multiple Universal Studios Theme Park lands, a Broadway/West End play, spinoff books, the Fantastic Beasts film series, video games like Hogwarts Legacy, and more. But just a few years after “accidentally” liking a transphobic tweet, Rowling dove head first into “gender critical” ideology.

A proud Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF), Rowling proudly supports transphobic pundits. Her cohorts often call gender-affirming care “mutilation” and purposely misgender transgender women. She once compared transgender former Harry Potter fans to Death Eaters.

Though Warner Bros. and HBO are still working on Wizarding World projects, Rowling spends most of her time online. She’s distanced herself from Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Emma Watson (Hermoine Granger), and Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), who all spoke out against Rowling’s anti-trans views.

A stack of Harry Potter books including Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Credit: Unsplash -Madalyn Cox

Former fans are critical of those who still support Rowling and, by extension, Harry Potter. So when anti-transgender activist @FKASerioJosh shared this video of the gathering at Kings Cross, it drew widespread criticism.

“This gives me the chills every year when I see the videos on social media!” the fan wrote. “Who will be at King’s Cross today? @jk_rowling spreading magic!”

Some compared those in the video to Disney Adults.

“I feel like society has got too focused on criticising Disney Adults when Harry Potter Adults exist,” said @MarkGComedyUK. “Like, I don’t know, I just think going to Disney World is significantly less cringeworthy than crowding into King’s Cross for an announcement about a train that doesn’t exist.”

“We really need to bring back bullying,” @buckfastbadlad quipped.

However, most critics focused on Rowling’s rampant transphobia.

“Okay so for one like i liked harry potter but this is embarrassing idk you’re adults why are you getting validation from a fake announcement from a book you liked as a kid, but more importantly, this phenomenon of transphobes becoming huge HP fans because of JKR is bizarre….” said @Ian_Gay_briel.

Some argued that adults in the crowd were likely more interested in Rowling’s “gender critical” views than Harry Potter. From @caoimheism:

“I love Harry Potter. I don’t like her,” @KeyTheBunny wrote. “I can’t help but wonder how many people in this crowd liked the stories before all her bigotry started coming out… and who started to show support BECAUSE of it. Anyway, I wish Daniel, Emma, and Rupert the best of fortune.”

J.K. Rowling did not respond publicly to this video or its critics.

Do you still support Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling? Share your thoughts with Inside the Magic in the comments.

View Comment (1)