J.K. Rowling Responds To Putin's 'Cancel Culture' Comment After He Likens Her To Russia

It seems J.K. Rowling has an unlikely supporter in her corner.

On Friday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a televised address on state TV, where he likened the state of Russia to the author of the “Harry Potter” books, stating that they were both victims of cancel culture.

During his speech, Putin called out author J.K. Rowling by name. Rowling has come under fire in recent years for her polarizing stance on transgender issues.

“J.K. Rowling was canceled because she, a writer of books that have sold millions of copies around the world, didn't please fans of so-called gender freedoms,” Putin claimed, stating that the West was also “trying to cancel a thousand-year-old country.”

He also claimed that there was a “gradual discrimination against everything linked to Russia … in a number of Western countries.”

“They are banning Russian writers and books,” he declared without providing proof. “The proverbial ‘cancel culture’ has become a cancelation of culture.”

“We remember the footage when they were burning books,” he added, referring to the Nazis' attempt to burn books. “It is impossible to imagine such a thing in our country and we are insured against this thanks to our culture. And it’s inseparable for us from our motherland, from Russia, where there is no place for ethnic intolerance, where for centuries representatives from dozens of ethnic groups have been living together.”

Although she did not call him out by name, the author made a critical tweet shortly after Russia’s speech and attached an article of Alexei Navalny, a vocal Putin critic, being thrown in jail.

She tweeted, “Critiques of Western cancel culture are possibly not best made by those currently slaughtering civilians for the crime of resistance, or who jail and poison their critics. #IStandWithUkraine.”

In follow-up tweets, Rowling shared a link to information about her children’s charity @lumos in #Ukraine. She tweeted, “Children trapped in orphanages and other institutions are exceptionally vulnerable right now. Thank you so, so much to everyone who has already donated to Lumos’s Ukraine appeal.”

Many fans were quick to point out that “JK didn’t get canceled, she got corrected” and didn’t feel that it was fair to lump her in with other dictators, like Hitler and Stalin.

In early March, J.K. Rowling also tweeted her support for Ukraine and personally pledged to match donations. She wrote, “I will personally match donations to this appeal, up to £1m. Thank you so, so much to all who’ve already donated, you’re enabling @lumos to do crucial work for some of the most vulnerable children in Ukraine.

Rowling has faced serious criticism and backlash ever since she made comments about the transgender community two years ago.

In June 2020, Rowling retweeted a news story of an organization working to provide hygiene and health services for people who menstruate during the COVID-19 pandemic, taking what seemed like a story about providing aid in a crisis into a controversial issue.

It seems Rowling took offense to the term, as she commented, “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

Fans criticized Rowling for her remarks. One person clapped back with, “I know you know this because you have been told over and over and over again, but transgender men can menstruate. Non-binary people menstruate. I, a 37-year old woman with a uterus, have not menstruated in a decade. Women are not defined by their periods.”