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The majority of the internet has branded J.K. Rowling a transphobe, and the Harry Potter author is getting cancelled left and right. You know who isn’t letting her down, though? Her publishers at Hachette UK.
Hachette UK, who is teaming up with Rowling in releasing her next childrens’ book The Ickabog, has released a statement saying that they will stand by Rowling in the spirit of respecting her right to free speech. Their statement reads:
“Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of publishing. We fundamentally believe that everyone has the right to express their own thoughts and beliefs. That’s why we never comment on our authors’ personal views and we respect our employees’ right to hold a different view.
“We will never make our employees work on a book whose content they find upsetting for personal reasons, but we draw a distinction between that and refusing to work on a book because they disagree with an author’s views outside their writing, which runs contrary to our belief in free speech.”
I admit, the publishing house kind of found a neat loophole when it came to having their employees work on the book. This isn’t the first time that artists have walked out on a project because an author had said something controversial. In this sense, the publishing house is looking purely at the content and separating it from Rowling’s personal views when it comes to trans people.
At this point, Rowling has been bashed by a lot of people in her camp including Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson. Even WB had been compelled to release a statement. Despite this though, I imagine a lot of people will still be checking out her next material, whether it be The Ickabog or the next Fantastic Beasts film.
Source: The Bookseller
