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J.K. Rowling “doesn’t care” if her controversial comments impact her “legacy”.
The ‘Harry Potter’ author, 57, has been accused of transphobia for a series of comments but has now insisted she isn’t bothered that her legacy will be tarnished because anyone who cares about their legacy is “pompous” in her eyes.
Speaking on the first episode of her new podcast ‘The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling’, she insisted: “I do not walk around my house thinking about my legacy.
You know, what a pompous way to live your life walking around thinking, ‘What will my legacy be?’ Whatever, I’ll be dead.
“I care about now. I care about the living.”
Rowling caused outrage after she liked a tweet that referred to trans women as “men in dresses”, and faced online attacks and death threats since she bemoaned the loss of references to biological women in 2020.
The writer took issue with an online article’s mention of “people who menstruate” by tweeting: “‘People who menstruate’. I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
However, in the trailer for the podcast, she insists her comments were “profoundly” misunderstood, and it was never her intention to “upset anyone”.
More recently, she accused Nicola Sturgeon of being a “destroyer of women’s rights” after the politician’s SNP and the Scottish Labour Party backed the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which passed through the Scottish Parliament in December and allows Scots to self-identify their legal gender.
Rowling was criticised by transgender campaigners for wearing a T-shirt bearing the “destroyer” message and posted a picture of herself wearing the top online.
Among those who have since hit out at the author over her remarks are ‘Harry Potter’ actors including Daniel Radcliffe, 33, and Emma Watson, 32, as well as Eddie Redmayne, 41, who featured in her ‘Fantastic Beasts’ films.
