J.K. Rowling Under Fire For... Giving Fan A Positive Reply?

"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling has a long history of being accused of being transphobic.

Glamour has put together a comprehensive list of the tweets that she has received backlash for, the reaction from former fans, and the celebrity response to her comments. However, the controversy seems to build with every new tweet.

On Sunday, the best-selling author gave a positive reply to a fan who tweeted at her, but it's receiving a lot of criticism online.

One user named Literary Goon tweeted, "Hey @jk_rowling these are my minions Celista and Kris, and I’m going to teach them how to stick to their principles even when it’s unpopular, just like you. Can’t wait til their old enough for HP, gonna start them with the Ickabog. Thank you for everything you do!"

Rowling replied, "Beautiful minions!" It seems like a completely innocuous tweet, but some users did a deep-dive into the person's tweet history and found some pretty alarming things.

According to his Twitter bio, Aidan Comerford "generally tweets about what transphobia looks like" but says that he is "not an activist."

"Hi @jk_rowling, can you delete your positive reply to this guy's account, given that he has threatened to murder 'trans activists' in his area by setting them on fire and p---ing on their half-alive corpses?" he asked. "I don't think you should encourage a person like that. "

He attached a screenshot from January 10, 2021, where Literary Goon tweeted, “If you believe in gender ideology, and you try to teach it in a school I’m associated with, I will drive you out into the desert and bury you 9-feet down. First I’ll set you on fire and p--- on your half-alive corpse. F--- trans activism, f--- gender ideology and f--- you.”

The Blast did its own search for the tweet and could not retrieve it, so it looks like Literary Goon might have deleted it. However, it did create a hot debate online as to whether or not Rowling should be held responsible for searching through his tweet history before replying.

One user tweeted, "I get that she won't explore every person's tweet history (however, that doesn't mean she can't delete her response when their character is highlighted to her), but you have to wonder, does something like this give her pause, seeing the sort of people who see her as a hero."

"Why do people think liking one tweet means that you endorse everything that person has ever said?" another user asked. "It’s a very strange notion that someone should trawl through every tweet before clicking the like button ??‍♀️"

"That is an unrealistic expectation, but if people tell you that a person you replied to positively has made some really disturbing hateful tweets then it would be expected that you delete your tweet," another user replied.

"She sent positive vibes to teaching little kids to stick to their principles , not the guys entire tweet history," another user added. "I’ve just noticed that tweet is 18 months old as well. How far back should she go before she replies to people with things like 'happy birthday!' Or 'that Harry Potter jumper suits them!' 2 years, 5 years?"

Many other users pointed out that this is far from the first time that Rowling has shown her support for those with "extremist" views, pointing out her public support for Matt Walsh despite some pretty shocking tweets.

At the time of this writing, J.K. Rowling has not deleted her reply. As for Literary Goon, he has also been getting a lot of comments on his tweet. When one user asked about it, this was his response: