It shouldn’t be news to anyone that JK Rowling—author of the Harry Potter series—is controversial. BIPOC called out Rowling for her racist stereotypes when her first Potter books were published.
Over the past several years her very vocal transphobia has been the focus.
Many have said her parroting and endorsing trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) rhetoric—expressed loudly and often on her Twitter and in long-form on her own website—is just another example of Rowling's deep-seated bigotry.
Lately The Onion—a satirical publication—has been on a roll in satirizing her swerve from wizard books to woman-espousing-transphobia-online. The newspaper wrote several articles lampooning the author, to much celebration online.
An example of one such article is below.
In an interview with Buzzfeed, Jordan LaFlure—Senior Managing Editor of The Onion—talked about why they chose Rowling as a target for ridicule.
“[Transphobia] comes from a place of fear and willful ignorance."
"It makes it easy to pick apart, even if it is horrifying to watch in real time…"
"J.K. Rowling, a billionaire with a penchant for spreading misery, has long been a worthy target."
"I regret only that it took this long for us to find a pointed manner to highlight her unthinking hatred.”
They also a wrote a parody interview with Rowling.
Reactions to The Onion's continued mockery of Rowling has been mostly joyful.
However Rowling's fellow transphobes were not amused.
This was the point, some astute commenters pointed out.
Another reason The Onion satirized Rowling is most publications in the United Kingdom—her home country—are unable to do so due to legal liability concerns.
The libel laws in the UK are much more stringent than in the United States where The Onion is headquartered.
One commentator summarized the public's feelings about The Onion rather succinctly.
Keep on fighting the good fight!
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