The J.K. Rowling Controversy, Explained

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been all over the news and social media sites this week due to statements she’s made regarding a sexual relationship between her characters Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald. Here’s a quick rundown on what exactly is happening.

The Statement

In a special feature for the Blu-ray release of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, J.K. Rowling stated that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had an incredibly intense and sexual relationship, specifically, that “it was passionate, and it was a love relationship.”

The Controversy

Nowhere in the Harry Potter or Fantastic Beasts books or films is the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindelwald displayed. This has left many fans of the series feeling that J.K. Rowling is just playing lip-service to the LGBTQ+ community without doing anything to actually portray such a relationship. There has been a lot of public outcry on social media, particularly on Twitter (where there are now also some hilarious memes popping up), where she is being accused of queerbaiting. So far J.K. Rowling has not offered any commentary on the controversy.

Other people are supporting J.K. Rowling’s statements, claiming that she’s the creator and can say what she wants:

My Thoughts

As much as I love the Harry Potter universe and grew up with it, it’s not exactly a diverse cast of characters. I feel like these days, in a world that embraces diversity (and rightly should), J.K. Rowling is performing a retcon of her own work to make it more diverse. There’s nothing wrong with making her characters gay, but maybe she should have written that into the cannon or have it portrayed in the films. It wouldn’t be that hard to do, and this controversy wouldn’t exist. It’s important to respect diverse communities, and I don’t feel that J.K. Rowling is doing that.

What Do You Think?

I want to hear your take on all this. Let’s have a discussion down in the comments.