BBC Forced To Apologize To J.K. Rowling After Guest Delivers On-Air Rant Over Trans Rights

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), is a British broadcasting corporation. Forced to apologize after a guest on Evan Davis’ radio show delivered an on-air rant about “Harry Potter” author J.K Rowling — and he allowed the guest to make allegations without pushing back on them.

Davis interviewed Stacey Henley (transgender woman, editor-in-chief at video game website The Gamer) about her new Harry Potter-themed game. “Hogwarts Legacy” and the fact that Henley’s website was refusing to post a review.

“The reason we’re not is really the fact that Harry Potter and the world that Harry Potter exhibits is just entirely connected to JK Rowling, but she has a platform that she uses to push transphobia, that she uses to build up this campaign against trans people, especially in Britain,” Henley claimed Henley’s claim on the February 2nd broadcast. “Supporting this game continues to give JK Rowling a platform in which she can use to hurt people.”

Henley continued to bash Rowling, claiming that the idea was not to ruin anyone’s memories or enjoyment of the popular series or to tell people to burn their Harry Potter books, but at the same time arguing that any support of the author’s future endeavors would hurt transgender people.

“If something that was really special to my childhood was taken away from me because the creator suddenly outed themselves as having these quite nasty views it would be heart breaking,” Henley admitted, adding: “You’re not being asked to give up all those childhood memories. What you’re being asked to do is think of the impact of continuing to support future endeavors.”

“I do think we have to be selective with the kind of art that we support, and if it’s created by somebody who continues to use their platform and their relevance to push forward transphobia and we continue to support them that’s where the line in the sand has to be drawn,” Henley also said so.

Davis made one caveat after Henley had left. “Obviously, JK Rowling wouldn’t say she’s transphobic.”

Henley pushed back, however, arguing that because Rowling’s defense of biological women was vocal and very public, people had a right to judge and criticize her for having the wrong opinions.

“This comes back to this idea that if you don’t want to feel bad about buying the game or you can’t judge people. You can judge people. The information out there is for everyone. JK Rowling’s views are not secret, they’re public knowledge,” Henley declared.

Following the broadcast, a spokesperson for BBC addressed the interview and stated that: “This is a difficult and contentious area which we do try very hard to cover fairly. However, we should have challenged the claims more directly and we apologize that we did not.”

Rowling often been attacked for her Protection of biological women — particularly those who have been the victims of domestic and sexual abuse — saying that they needed a safe space free of biological males, regardless of their chosen “identities.”

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