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J.K. Rowling’s response to an act of vandalism against Harry Potter has gone viral online.
Newsweek reached out to Rowling’s representative via email for comment on Thursday.
Why It Matters
The creator of the Harry Potter series quickly generated widespread discussion among fans and critics alike for her comment. Over the years, the author has been the subject of controversy due to her views on gender identity, and she recently traded barbs with Harry Potter actress Emma Watson.
What To Know
On Tuesday, social media commentator Ian Miles Cheong posted a video of someone breaking several Harry Potter Milk Chocolate Frogs in a store.
“Breaking all the chocolate frogs to stick it to JK Rowling,” Cheong captioned his post, which racked up more than 906,400 views at the time of publication. “What a well adjusted adult.”
“I’m breaking all the chocolate frogs,” the person in the video tells the camera. It is not known who originally posted the clip.
X user @HazelAppleyard_ later reposted the video, garnering an additional 996,900 views: “He’s breaking all the chocolate frogs to own @jk_rowling. I don’t think this affects her in any way.”
After seeing @HazelAppleyard_’s post, Rowling responded via her official X account: “That’s where you’re wrong. I personally hand pour every single one AND deliver them to shops on my push bike.”
Rowling’s note currently has 508,600 views and 51,000 likes.
According to Jelly Belly’s website, the Harry Potter chocolate is a collectible item. “Harry Potter fans delight! These delicious Chocolate Frogs are modeled after the ones featured in your favorite books and movies about a boy wizard,” a description of the candy reads. “While these frog chocolates won’t come to life and start hopping away from you while you ride the train to Hogwarts, they will provide a delicious treat that you or your kids are sure to love. Each frog is made from milk chocolate and filled with crisped rice for a delightfully crunchy texture. They also come with collectible cards inspired by your favorite Wizarding World characters.”
What People Are Saying
Watson—who starred as Hermione Granger in eight Harry Potter films between 2001 and 2011—discussed her relationship with Rowling on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast on September 24: “There is just no world in which I could ever cancel her out… It’s not so much what we say or what we believe, it’s how we say it. I just see this world right now where we seem to giving permission to this throwing out of people, or that people are disposable. I will always think that’s wrong. I just believe that no one is disposable. And everyone as far as possible, whatever the conversation is, should and can be treated with, at the very least, dignity and respect.”
Rowling responded to Watson’s comments in a lengthy message shared to X on September 29: “Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn’t want to see any of them threatened with loss of work, or violence, or death, because of them.
“However, Emma and [Daniel Radcliffe] in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right—nay, obligation—to critique me and my views in public. Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created.
“Like other people who’ve never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is.”
In a separate X post, Rowling said: “She could have contacted me privately any time to say her views had changed, if they have. I’d have been entirely supportive. What she’s chosen to do instead is yet another bit of public brand repositioning, without talking to me, but using me for her purpose. It’s getting old.”
What Happens Next
HBO’s Harry Potter television series is slated to premiere in 2027.
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