J.K. Rowling, the celebrated author of the Harry Potter series, has been in hot water for her controversial comments about transgender people for a long time now. With people coming up to show their support and many expressing their distaste for her comments over the years she has been the topic of the talk on many occasions. The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling is a podcast that explores this topic in depth.

In a recent interview on the podcast The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling, she claimed that she has been deeply misunderstood and that she is not preoccupied with how the controversy will affect her legacy.

J.K. Rowling

In the interview, J.K. Rowling emphasized that she never meant to upset anyone with her comments about trans women. She added that those who claim that she has ruined her legacy have misunderstood her more profoundly and that she does not walk around her house, thinking about her legacy. Instead, she cares about the present and the living.

“I do not walk around my house, thinking about my legacy,” she says in the first episode. “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.”

J.K. Rowling

The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling, produced by Free Press and hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper, attempts to draw parallels between the attacks on Rowling by far-right groups over the Harry Potter books and the more recent controversy over her statements about trans people.

Phelps-Roper is searching for common ground between the right-wingers who wanted to ban and burn the Harry Potter books and trans activists who have threatened Rowling over her comments.

“What is it about this woman and her work that has captured the ire of very different groups of people across time?”

Phelps-Roper says in the intro to the premiere episode.

Megan Phelps-Roper

The podcast has already become a rallying point for J.K. Rowling’s defenders, including New York Times columnist Pamela Paul, who argued that

“nothing Rowling has said qualifies as transphobic.”

J.K. Rowling’s comments about the transgender community have been criticized by actors from movies based on her books, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Eddie Redmayne, while Ralph Fiennes is among those who have defended the author.

J.K. Rowling’s Remarks on Transgender People

In June 2020, Rowling ignited the firestorm by tweeting, among other things,

“If s*x isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If s*x isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased.”

She has also suggested that trans women retain male patterns of criminality, which makes them likelier than cisgender women to physically or sexually assault someone in a women’s locker room or shelter.

J.K. Rowling

Despite the backlash, Rowling seems determined to stand by her beliefs and ignore the criticism and even violent threats that she has received. She said that she has had direct threats of violence, and people have come to her house where her kids live, and her address has been posted online.

However, she appears unfazed by it, claiming that she does not care about her legacy, but rather the present and the living. Despite the criticism and even violent threats, Rowling remains steadfast in her beliefs and unconcerned with how her legacy will be perceived in the future.

The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling, set to run seven episodes, is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other audio platforms.