J.K. Rowling's Publishers to Stick with Her Despite Controversy

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has found herself in a middle of a controversy, and everyone is outraged at her for apparently sharing transphobic tweets. Despite a lot of Rowling's colleagues denouncing her from Daniel Radcliffe to Emma Watson, publishing house Hachette U.K. is opting to stick to Rowling and publish her next book The Ickabog.

Credit: J.K. Rowling

Hachette U.K. released in a statement (via The Bookseller), that they are still "proud" to produce Rowling's book, and are not dropping her on the grounds of free speech. They said:

"Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of publishing. We fundamentally believe that everyone has the right to express their own thoughts and beliefs. That's why we never comment on our authors' personal views and we respect our employees' right to hold a different view."

With the possibility of some employees refusing to work on Rowling's book (which has happened before), the publishing house made it clear that employees won't have to work on a book that personally offends them, but when it's the author's personal views and not the book itself that they find offensive, that is a completely different case. The statement continues:

"We will never make our employees work on a book whose content they find upsetting for personal reasons, but we draw a distinction between that and refusing to work on a book because they disagree with an author's views outside their writing, which runs contrary to our belief in free speech."

While the entire internet is at an uproar with Rowling's statements, I think it's always best to try and look at both sides of the issue and judge for yourself. You can check out Rowling's essay and the counterpoints here.

J.K. Rowling's The Ickabog is aiming for a release this November.

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