Renowned children’s author Judy Blume, celebrated for her occasionally controversial coming-of-age stories, voiced her “100%” support for “Harry Potter” creator J.K. Rowling, only to be forced to apologize shortly afterward.
Blume issued an apology on Twitter, stating that she unequivocally supported the transgender community and that her comment had been “taken out of context.”
She explained that her intention was merely to express empathy for another writer experiencing online harassment.
Blume then shared excerpts from a recent interview with Variety, during which she argued that allowing children to read anything was not risky and that reading about transgender children would not make kids more likely to identify as transgender themselves.
The initial backlash originated from an interview with The Sunday Times ahead of the film release of one of Blume’s most popular novels, “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret,” which chronicles a young girl navigating puberty and her first menstrual cycle.
In the interview, Blume mentioned that her primary objective as an author was to reassure children that it was acceptable to be normal kids.
Blume and interviewer Hadley Freeman discussed the prevalence of superheroes in children’s media, and Freeman referenced the “Harry Potter” series, in which most characters possess some magical ability.
Blume then expressed her admiration for Rowling, saying, “And I love her. I am behind her 100 per cent as I watch from afar.” Blume, who faced backlash for her young adult novels in the 1980s, seemed to refer to Rowling’s ongoing conflict with the transgender community.
Blume mentioned that she had met Rowling early in her “Harry Potter” career, and they had exchanged a few notes in the past.
However, she admitted that she had not been in touch with Rowling during this challenging time and felt that she probably should.
J.K. Rowling has received considerable criticism, including death threats, for advocating female-only spaces in the midst of a movement pressuring women to share these areas with trans-identifying biological males who have not undergone surgery.