A Barnes & Noble in New York City made headlines recently for a book display that threw major shade at well-known transphobe and author JK Rowling.
Rowling, known worldwide for her Harry Potter book series in which a young wizard boy aims to stop the evil wizard Voldemort, used to be one of the most beloved children's authors in history.
Then she repeatedly outed herself as ignorant and hateful of the transgender community. The racism displayed in her writing was also called out in recent years by Asian, Indigenous and Black activists.
A Barnes & Noble location decided to throw some major shade at Rowling while helping their customers find some wizarding books from authors with a more favorable reputation.
They did this by setting up a book display of several different books about wizards and magic, while intentionally leaving the Harry Potter books out of the display.
To top it all off, the label on the display read:
"The Unproblematic Wizarding World"
The JK Rowling slander is real in barnes and noble 😂 pic.twitter.com/apHXhV14Kv
— No one likes you when you are 24 (@FavoriteLadyS) November 10, 2021
Rowling took many hateful stances about transgender women and has been getting dragged for it ever since. She has, on several occasions, used her social media accounts to bash trans women and argue against the validity of their existence.
She has also spread harmful ideas that trans women pose a "threat" to cisgender women and has even publicly supported the use of conversion therapy to try to turn trans people cisgender, while also promoting merchandise with anti-transgender sentiments on them.
Rowling even went so far as to write an entire book filled with her transphobic ideas. The book, written under a male pseudonym, portrays a male character who dons dresses to murder women.Rowling first revealed herself as transphobic two years ago after fighting on social media to defend nonprofit social justice employee Maya Forstater, who was fired from her position for attacking transgender individuals on social media and refusing to acknowledge or use trans people's correct pronouns.
Forstater sued over her termination but lost her case as the court felt her attitudes and actions created an "intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment."
During this time, Rowling attempted to defend Forstater, stating she agreed with Forstaters opinions.
Rowling even "came out" as a "TERF," or "trans-exclusive radical feminist."
Due to her hateful and harmful views of the transgender community, many of her fans—some of whom are transgender themselves—turned against her and even abandoned the Harry Potter franchise in solidarity with trans folks. The stars of the Potter films also publicly denounced Rowling.
Twitter users are applauding Barnes & Noble for their shady, yet hilarious, display.
i have a new favourite anonymous employee, 14/10 solid work comrade https://t.co/Eor0pEqOMf
— madeline odent (@oldenoughtosay) November 21, 2021
Love to see it. https://t.co/3vRILA8i1K
— blackness everdeen 🐺🏞 (@traceyecorder) November 22, 2021
damn lmao barnes and noble doesn't play https://t.co/ORZ1ThjxAc
— Archie 🇪🇷 (@NerdyMcHoodlum) November 22, 2021
That would technically be libel, but even then, it's not libel if it's true. https://t.co/mX8FJ2NZ29
— snipe, vaxxed chodeblossom ⭑⭒⭒⭒⭒ (@snipeyhead) November 16, 2021
Three cheers for this Barnes and Noble sign. https://t.co/xosls1Dllt
— Daniela Battistella (@DBattistella) November 22, 2021
Whoever did this, give them a raise and a warm kiss on the forehead.
— Pete Milan (@PeteMilan) November 16, 2021
I know where I'm doing my holiday shopping this year!!!!! https://t.co/dnKiS6Um55
— Jeffrey James Keyes (@jjkeyes) November 25, 2021
not slander when it's true https://t.co/TrJrGR4kIx
— The Rev has been a very good boy this year. (@TheRevLovesYou) November 17, 2021
the number of TERF bootlickers in this thread is hilarious
dude, it's not 1999, you don't gotta defend HP anymore, it's okay https://t.co/H8wOK3Es2e
— spike (@Spikewerks) November 24, 2021
Idk, you seem pretty triggered by a sign 🤷🏻♂️
— Remy (@CrackedOzy) November 17, 2021
For anyone excited about the 20th Anniversary of the HP movies and looking for some more cool magic content, check out these books! Hugs and love to Barnes & Noble and happy #TransAwarenessWeek https://t.co/iP37gkrZ85
— ArgyleBestiary&Co. (@ArgyleBestiary) November 16, 2021
IM LIVING FOR THIS https://t.co/5ROBjWl7Kg
— Literaturely Thankful (@commaSameleon) November 16, 2021
As of this publication, Rowling has not responded to the display.
