She who shall not be named

Perhaps the Harry Potter universe is so magical that it invented itself. It certainly looks that way judging by the new trailer for the latest Fantastic Beasts film, in which JK Rowling is barely acknowledged as its creator.

The trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore states ‘Warner Bros invites you’, as opposed to ‘JK Rowling invites you’, which was how older trailers introduced the previous film in the series, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. This feels like a deliberate and sinister move. Around the world there are theme parks, party decorations, university courses and even food and drinks inspired by the world of magic Rowling created. Her books have been translated into 65 languages, making Rowling one of the most-translated authors in history, and the first to make a billion dollars. And now she’s being subtly erased.

We know why, too. On 19 December 2019, Rowling expressed support for women’s sex-based rights, after consultant researcher Maya Forstater lost her employment tribunal. (Forstater had not had her contract renewed by the company she worked for following a gender-critical tweet.) With that expression of support for women’s rights, Rowling had effectively sinned against trans orthodoxy.

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