'Cold, Heartless' J.K. Rowling Removed From Museum Of Pop Culture Harry Potter Exhibit
Without J.K. Rowling, there would be no Harry Potter.
No books, no movies, no spin-offs, no podcasts, no Hogwarts theme parks and certainly no museum exhibits celebrating the wizarding world of "the boy who lived."
Yet the Seattle-based Museum of Pop Culture (MoPop) has decided to scrub all mentions of the iconic author in its new Harry Potter exhibit.
Why? Because she believes in basic biology.
(Photo by Marc Piasecki/GC Images)
Rowling is not shy when it comes to her feelings on gender identity. Her stance is one of common sense: Men are men. Women are women. And women's spaces must be protected.
But according to MoPop project manager Chris Moore, those views make her a "cold, heartless, joy-sucking entity."
Moore added he would "love to go with the internet's theory that these books were actually written without an author."
As if these brilliant works of art — a series of seven best-selling novels — appeared out of thin air. That would be almost as magical as a person being able to change his or her gender depending on how they feel that particular day.
Activists often call J.K. Rowling a "TERF" — trans-exclusionary radical feminist. (Photo credit should read Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
"But this certain person is a bit too vocal with her super hateful and divisive views to be ignored," Moore wrote in a blog post on MoPop's official website. "For the time being, the curators decided to remove any of her artifacts from this gallery to reduce her impact."
The post also refers to Rowling as "She Who Must Not Be Named" — a nod to the Harry Potter series villain, Voldemort. The exhibit features memorabilia from the hit films. But it does not mention Rowling's name anywhere.
"It's not a perfect solution," Moore said. "But it's what we were able to do in the short-term while determining long-term practices."
MoPop Attacks J.K. Rowling In Blog Post
Chris Moore feels he's qualified to speak on Rowling's "blatant bigotry."
In addition to serving as a project manager at MoPOP, Moore is also a board member for the Seattle Trans and Nonbinary Choral Ensemble and "a transgender Harry Potter ex-fanatic."
But Moore's blog post isn't just a scathing review of Rowling's thoughts on gender theory.
He also accuses the award-winning novelist of racism. Moore is upset about the whiteness of the main characters and the lack of LGBTQ+ representation. He also suggested Rowling might be antisemitic — suggesting the goblins at Gringotts Wizarding Bank represent stereotypes in the Jewish community.
Moore made the connection between Jewish people and goblins. Rowling did not.
(Photo by Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images)
Still, he accuses her novels of fostering a "super-chill outlook on bigotry."
And apparently, museum leadership agrees with this assessment of Rowling — despite their willingness to profit off her supposedly racist, homophobic and antisemitic creation.
"MoPOP is proud to support our employees and unequivocally stands with nonbinary and transgender communities," the museum told The Telegraph. "In an increasingly divided world, pop culture can unite, inspire, and spark important conversations.
"Education and creative expression are the heart of our mission and in our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, we strive to elevate those that are left out of the mainstream pop culture conversation, by amplifying voices and stories that are not always seen on museum walls."
Sure, MoPop. There's definitely no transgender representation in mainstream pop culture. Trans influencers aren't making millions of dollars to promote products, and men disguised as women certainly aren't being lauded as beauty queens, "Woman of the Year," and champions of female sports.
Because obviously the best way to have these "important conversations" is to pretend people who have a different opinion simply do not exist.
And you thought Harry Potter lived in a fantasy world.
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