A Seattle Museum has airbrushed JK Rowling from its hall of fame and Harry Potter exhibition over her gender-critical views.
The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Washington hit out at the famous author and accused her of holding ‘super hateful and divisive’ opinions.
It defended its decision to remove all references to Rowling, 58, in a lengthy blog post on Saturday.
The museum still has Harry Potter memorabilia on display but any mention of the author of the franchise has been airbrushed.
Rowling has faced criticism for her views on transgender issues after she argued women should not be fired for believing biological sex is real.
A Seattle Museum has airbrushed JK Rowling from its hall of fame and Harry Potter exhibition over her gender-critical views
The Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) in Washington hit out at the famous author and accused her of holding ‘super hateful and divisive’ opinions
The museum still has Harry Potter memorabilia on display but any mention of the author of the franchise has been airbrushed out
Its exhibitions project manager Chris Moore, who is transgender and uses the pronouns ‘he/they’, confirmed the museum would no longer contain any references to Rowling.
‘There’s a certain cold, heartless, joy-sucking entity in the world of Harry Potter and, this time, it is not actually a Dementor,’ he wrote in a 1,400-word blog post on Saturday.
‘We would love to go with the internet’s theory that these books were actually written without an author, but this certain person is a bit too vocal with her super hateful and divisive views to be ignored.’
Moore explained the decision to airbrush her and said: ‘For the time being, the curators decided to remove any of her artefacts from this gallery to reduce her impact.
‘It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s what we were able to do in the short-term while determining long-term practices.’
Rowling was inducted into its Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2018 which was a year before she first expressed her views on trans issues publicly.
The museum described the Harry Potter books as ‘beloved’ and shared a three-paragraph biography about her literary achievements at the time.
But Moore accused the author of using ‘racial stereotypes’, ‘fat-shaming’ and a ‘lack of LGBTQIA+ representation’ in the books.
‘We learned that [Rowling] was a problem, which is why you’ll see the artefacts without any mention or image of the author,’ he said.
Its exhibitions project manager Chris Moore, who is transgender and uses the pronouns ‘he/they’, confirmed the museum would no longer contain any references to Rowling
MoPOP defended its decision to remove all references to Rowling in a lengthy blog post on Saturday
‘After all, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint are all incredibly vocal allies.’
Radcliffe who shot to fame playing Harry Potter in the film series last year said young fans had been ‘hurt’ by Rowling’s views on trans issues.
While Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley, said: ‘trans women are women, trans men are men’.
Emma Watson, who portrayed Hermione Granger, donated money to transgender lobby charity Mermaids in 2020 and asked her Twitter followers to do the same.
Rowling has received abuse online for her gender-critical views and in 2021 she said she received ‘enough death threats to paper my house’ after trans activists leaked her address online and staged a protest outside it.
She has spoken out about her concerns making it easier to legally change gender over the safety concerns of biological women.
The author was extremely critical of former Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s attempts to change the law to allow people to self-identify without a medical certificate.
A MoPOP spokesman said told The Telegraph: ‘MoPOP is proud to support our employees and unequivocally stands with nonbinary and transgender communities. 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.’
Dailymail.com has contacted MoPOP for comment.
