In a rant about “progressive discrimination,” Russian President Vladimir Putin cited JK Rowling, the British author of the Harry Potter books, as evidence of the dangers of Western “cancel culture.”
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Fee Dubois
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Russian President Vladimir Putin defended British author JK Rowling in a new televised speech on “cancel culture”. He cited her as someone who had been “cancelled” because of her stance on gender and gender rights. Rowling has been in the spotlight in recent years for her controversial views on gender. Critics blame her transphobia and several cast members of the Harry Potter films have already distanced themselves from the writer.
“They recently canceled children’s book author JK Rowling,” Putin said in his TV speech. “Her books are read all over the world, but she was canceled for failing to meet the demands of so-called gender freedoms.”
He also mentioned that he could never imagine such a thing happening in Russia. “We are insured against this thanks to our culture,” Putin said. “It is inextricably linked to our motherland Russia, where there is no room for ethnic intolerance.”
Putin also claimed, among other things, that the West cancels the truth, and made the comparison with the Second World War. “They are now trying to cancel our country. I’m talking about the progressive discrimination against everything to do with Russia,” Putin said, adding: “They ban Russian writers and books.” He compared the “cancel culture” to the thinking of the Nazis before and during the Second World War. “Remember the images when they burned books.”
JK Rowling took to Twitter to criticize Putin’s speech: “Criticism of Western cancel culture may not be best expressed by those who are currently slaughtering civilians for the crime of resistance, or jailing and poisoning their critics,” Rowling said, followed by the hashtag #IStandWithUkraine. She also linked to an article by BBC News about Aleksey Navalny, the imprisoned Kremlin critic.
Rowling has been discredited several times with her transphobic statements. In June 2020, she wrote on Twitter: “I know and love trans people, but by erasing the concept of gender, many can no longer talk meaningfully about their lives,” after which she published an essay expressing her views on gender, which has already been published. was quickly dubbed the TERF manifesto by critics (A TERF is a radical feminist who doesn’t see trans women as women). She herself denied being transphobic on several occasions.
It is well known that Putin has no sympathy for the LGBTI community. In Russia, LGBTI issues are barely discussed in public, because it can be labeled as “gay propaganda”. That is prohibited by law by Moscow. Putin called the acceptance of trans people a “crime against humanity”. Putin cited this “Western mindset” as one of the reasons for Ukraine’s invasion. According to him, the West wants to destroy Russian ‘traditional’ values.
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