A Harry Potter Fanboy's Response To J.K. Rowling

I think about it as Daniel Radcliffe said (And I think that is wonderful): Whatever JKR said, what the books gave to you and mean to you is only between yourself and the books and No-one can take that from you. (I understand and would not want to support her financially anymore, but what's spent is spent. We did not know, at that point.) The other day I started putting my books into the shelves, as I moved house not long ago. As I looked at me HP books I struggled with what I should do. I think I might tape over the author's name. Probably with trans and enby colours. :-) But I am certain that I want to have the books visible (just not that name!) and accesible to read them again and again, because they gave my so much growing up and I will not let the author take that away from me. What ever stupid things she thinks about me and and so many others.

stini Mondkatze

The problem is, even if I'm not aware of an issue, it's still there and a lot of people who are vulnerable to hateful comments, especially from people they used to look up to, are aware. So I'd personally rather know what's going on instead of involuntarily hurting someone's feelings just because I didn't know of some issue that was a big deal to everyone else. Knowing what's going on in the world doesn't suck the life out of me if I don't let it 😉 My sister is a trans woman, the disappointment I'd cause her if I praised Rowling in front of her or publically because I was uninformed would on the other hand very much suck the life out of me. For a YouTuber it's even more difficult. If you promote a book like Harry Potter without knowing what's going on in the background and at least addressing it, people may assume that you side with the author, which may disappoint subscribers and end up in losing subscriptions, so it's difficult for someone like Dom not to keep himself informed at least about the major issues, like the controversy around Rowling which did effect abs hurt a lot of people. That said, I can still enjoy Harry Potter. I don't support Rowling anymore by buying any merchandise, tickets or whatever, but if I ever feel like rereading the books I can do so without thinking of the drama around the author. Harry Potter never was such a big deal to me as it was to others, but I did enjoy the books and the movies and can still do so, if I want to.

Jessica Eck

Hey Don, I was wondering if you will be putting this at the start of each of the Harry Potter reviews? A friend of mine who is a part of the Trans Community was really impressed with this and suggested that it would be good to place it there if you’re not removing them.

Alex Miller

Adding to the thank you flood! I was struggling with death of the author vs supporting the franchise of a person using their power for harm. Terrence, don’t worry, all us Ravenclaws will wait for the next appearance of your wonderful self. I’m keeping my books so that I can loan them to people and not ever again give She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named a single cent.

Alex Miller

Thank you for making this. Ive been avoiding her hateful Twitter posts and been playing dumb about the whole thing, but as she is still alive and earning LOADS of money off of us, I feel as though my lack of action has been irresponsible. I do have a lot of Harry Potter merchandise and though I can't return much of it (loads of furniture from pottery barn), I will no longer be contributing and purchasing her licensed merch or films. It's very disappointing but I feel it's the right thing to do. Once I move out I won't be taking her merch with me.

Hey Dom, I really liked this video, and I absolutely respect your position vis a vis Harry Potter and associated properties. I don't know for myself if I can completely forswear all things Potter, but at the very least I'm going to spend my money on less... emotionally tainted IPs.

Tasmanienerin

Thank you

Tofi Stigandr

For me, the best thing to come from HP is the fanfiction, which Rowling has zero control over. There is a lot LGBT-positive fanfiction, including trans Harry & Draco, and room for more if anyone wants to write it. I'm still deep in this fandom, but it has little to do with Rowling and far more to do with the love and compassion in the fans.

Kenna

Aren’t Camp Half-Blood shirts orange?

Jo and Gareth

Thank you Dom. Especially thank you for taking back what you said previously about how there's no reason a headmaster (Dumbledore) would tell his students he was gay. I know when I was growing up and was realizing I'm queer it would have made a world of difference if one of my high school teachers had been out 'n' proud. Imagine how it would feel, as a queer wizard growing up in the UK, to know that Dumbledore himself was gay too... Anyway, thank you for this whole video--typical of you, thoughtful, open-minded, respectful, and shows a lot of integrity. And thank you especially for retracting your earlier Dumbledore comment.

My weird quarantine fantasy has been a trip to Universal Orlando with all the friends I haven't been able to see in months (I'm an essential worker, and don't want to risk them or their families). I haven't been on a rollercoaster since I was seventeen, I've never been to Universal, but the idea of immersing myself and all the people I love in a cozy fantasy land has been the one thing I was holding onto, a future goal to pull through this for. Having J.K. go full TERF just feels like more 2020, just nope, nothing will ever be happy, ever again.

Kat

Thank you for this Dominic. i might have grown up with this series, I'd rather support you than her.

Teiran

The only bright side I can see out of this debacle is that maybe they wont make the 3rd FB movie anymore. It wasnt going to be good, now maybe it just wont BE. Regardless, you, who cares much more about HP than I do, making such a clear stance on this helped me to solidify mine, and I now join you when it comes to death of the author not being applicable while they’re still alive and profiting. Thank you sir.

I'm so angry!! My son was just recovering from a life changing illness that he had between 3 and 8 and annihilated his ability to learn. He's 10 now and was just starting to engage with learning to read thanks to Harry Potter. I was really loving the bedtime routine we had where we would read together. I'm not going to stop - his reading and that moment of bonding is far too important for his development right now, but I don't and haven't been getting any pleasure any more. I feel nothing but anger and guilt and... Obviously I'll make sure she never gets a penny out of me until she apologises and puts right all the harm she's done 10 times over, and I'll try to slide him over onto another series, but he's resisting so far.

Thank you, enby watcher and honestly this is why I decided to become a Patreon supporter (I had been considering it for ages but was worried about this topic)

As a trans person who group reading harry Potter (and the desire to read the books actually massively helped improve my reading skills despite my learning disability and I've been a fan ever since), I'm still honestly going through a sort-of stages of grief. Rowling past questionably opinions or actions had caused me to no longer buy Harry Potter-themed merch but this is just a massive nail to the coffin. Beyond that resolve I'm still logically and emotionally deciding where my stance and actions will be. I'll probably keep my books and such because I'm a sentimental idiot but I certainly will look upon them a different way. "Strange how someone could write something that made me realize the value self-love, love for all people, and how much no one should be forced to live in a closet never internalized those themes herself" sort of thing. Emotions are weird.

Thank you. This means so much to hear. Enby watcher here and I legit teared up.

Stella Bella

RE: "Please teach me your ways, you drama-dodging master" It's actually pretty simple, Dom: quit reading Twitter and Facebook. I am only tangentially aware of this whole situation because it gets discussed on a small Discord that I frequent, since it's populated by a number of transgender people. I quit Facebook entirely several years ago, and I use Twitter for exactly one purpose: finding art. I go out of my way to not read text tweets, and to not follow anyone who posts anything political. I recently unfollowed an artist whose work I really like because they started getting Trumpy on their twitter feed. Trust me, you'll be infinitely happier if you don't have social media sucking your life away all the time.

coredumperror

Will look it up :)

My comfort books would be everything from Tamora Pierce. Maybe check it out!

Noujoum

Oh my Gods!!!! The first part was sad, but it’s moral thing to do I respect you. Buuuuut the End!!!! With nearly 30 I‘ve gave up on Camp Halfblood, but now, I‘m excited. Terrence will be a great Demigod.

Nienna

It's so sad to see a hero or creator goes "surprise, I'm vile!". Even worse when it's not a heel turn, in hindsight that was their normal state. And the absolute worst case is when there's borderline messaging in the works you used to enjoy.

shadowscribble

Oh DN, thank you so much this made me cry. My 13 year old came out recently as Trans FTM and it has been such a journey so far in a world I only had a vague understanding of. My poor Mush has been struggling so much with their identity as have their friends. To know any time people have their backs is truly heart warming. I loved you before DN but you just turned yourself to gold in my eyes. Thank you for this heart felt message. Have a nice weeked, take care!

Leslie Helwig

I already sent you a post on Twitter giving you praise for this, but I wanted to add something personal for me. This video has convinced me to give up my previous "separate the art from the artist unless you can demonstrate where the former is influenced directly by the latter". I can't feel good about myself if I support J.K. Rowling in any way, no matter how indirect it is. It may not be easy, but the right thing to do rarely is.

People should be allowed to speak their minds, sure, that doesn't mean others are obligated to listen. The problem here is that the popularity of Rowling's work gained her a massive following and a ton of good will, and her words are taken more seriously than the thoughts of "unknown" people, even on topics that she herself is clearly ignorant and highly biased about. Spreading her work means helping her to promote her thoughts. Like Dom said, it's near impossible to miss what she said - why do you think that is? Certainly not because what she said had any merit, or was anything new or original. Turning away from her works will not stop her from speaking her mind. It only turns down the volume on the loud speaker she's holding so other people's voices are less likely to be drowned out.

Iridium

I have not read everything she has said, but in my opinion people should be able to separate their opinions of a work and an artist. It is my honest belief, that everyone should be allowed to have their own beliefs and express them, as long as they are not actively harming others with it. The definition of harm may be debatable here. We as a society should stop trying to police peoples thoughts. Opinions outside of the accepted norm can be valuable and lead to new possibilities (though mostly they will not).

Nathaniel Muscharaf

I banned HP out of my life.

I. B. Zimmermann

Love that you are making a stand for this, I've trued to avoid anything concerning HP for a while for those same reasons. By the Way I'm gonna guess Terrence is Athenas son?

Tachpmg

By the way JKR is no feminist. We had a meeting and voted her out of the club.

Exactly, JKR will still be a wealthy person and will be fine. I have noticed that this happens with wealthy people: as they grow richer, they seem to expect everyone to be just like them. It is quite ridiculous, really, you would think with all that money and all those opportunities to meet different people your world view would be more tolerant, not less.

I totally hate JK and what she said is just non sensical bull shit. Like you Dom the world of Harry Potter is what got me reading. Having watched a few different video essays on this subject on whether we can remove the art from the artist in still in a quandary. I watched Lindsay Ellis, Sarah Z, and Shaaba. - Saaba basically said that if every person in the world stopped supporting JK she will still be a billionaire and be just fine, more than fine, but we lose this wonderful world that has helped us grow into caring tolerant and accepting people. I was in the middle of reading the books with my 8 year old dd when this all started to become obvious and to me the books are now owned by the world and not her. I don’t plan to buy anything that will monetarily support her any longer, but will not deny myself my pleasure of entering that world.

Lana Hands

I hated everything after book 7. But I love Harry Potter. I watched several videos on this and I also have the opinion that I can't separate the art from the artist in this case because she is so involved in the Harry Potter world. I was a proud slytherin and I have t-shirts and merch from my house. I can't wear them anymore. It just hurts too much. It really sucks. I also have to search for a new comfort book that I can read when I feel shitty.

Thank for making this video Dom. I to am done with Harry Potter

GPanda

Until recently I applied the "death of the author" shenanigans in my head when it came to JKR (and Orson Scott Card, tbh) and her Terfiness. But I changed my stance after she strolled into the public in full-on TERF mode. It doesn't change the art to me, but I won't support her in any way.

One of the saddest/funniest things I've seen from this debacle is Christians (in my circle of people, though I wouldn't be surprised if it was more general) who used to denounce HP as being of the devil and a ticket to demon possession (yes this was/is a thing of you've never heard it before) are now holding JKR up as an authority on this subject since she's a public person that agrees with them. It's...baffling. I've been following you a long time, this must be really hard but thank you for standing up for lgbtq+ people on your platform.

Dom, you're awesome. It's helpful to see someone willing to walk away when something meant so much to them. I won't be burning my HP books, but I won't be buying any more of them written or otherwise. I'm so glad that I got my child who is into fantasy into Rick Riordan's books instead. P.S. Terrence's ego can have a backstory now. God complex indeed. Lol.

ÆtherialTea

Much respect for your decision. You rarely see a Youtuber taking the responsibility of their platform so seriously. It was earnest, eloquent, and sad. Meanwhile, SuperCarlinBrothers, whose fanbase forms a Venn circle with HP fans and who mostly makes Harry Potter-related videos, has yet to comment, at least on their YouTube channel. This is probably partly because their audiences skews younger (which isn't a legitimate reason not to comment and actually a reason why you definitely should talk about it), but I think it's mainly because they could never swear off Harry Potter videos and would therefore have to either say "it's bad, but..." or support Rowling. Either way, they would open themselves up to criticism. I love SCB, particularly their genuine enthusiasm for everything they talk about, whether it's HP, Disney, or Pixar. I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep enjoying their content, or if it would even be ethical to keep watching. I don't even know if I want to hear their fan theory about Malfoy's patronus. My niece and nephew (10 and 12) are big fans of Harry Potter, and I'm not sure how aware they are of this debacle, or how to talk about it with them if needed. Their parents aren't very aware of what happens online, so I should probably explain it to my brother. It's not about getting them to boycott Rowling, but I'm afraid that they (my niece, nephew, as well as their parents) would be susceptible to TERF talking points if they learn about this from the wrong place. I love Harry Potter videos and despite the latest entry, I was looking forward to the next Fantastic Beasts. But I love trans people more.

Robin Isomaa

About Separating Art from the Artist video. Please consider doing it. It hurts. Each time it hurts to find out that one of my beloved content creators/ authors / actors have done something inexcusable. I feel so lost when it happens.

YAY, TERRENCE! YAY, DADDY SMITH! And I continue to be proud to support you.

Camille R

I am a bisexual, black woman who is the mother of pansexual teenage son. I have marched, fought, argued, and for LGBTQ+ since I was 18. I was a fan of JKR’s talent & thought the world she created in her HP Books was one where discovering who you are & having friends who see & love the real you was true magic. On a whim I decided to re-read JKR’s words, looked up the doctor she quoted (Lisa Littman) in her research, and even dived into the world Littman “studied” to get to her conclusion. Two “Jesus Christ WTF did I just read?!” filled hours later I came to this conclusion, 1) Confirmation bias is why we can’t have nice things. 2) J.K. Rowling’s can go fuck herself!! Her extensive research” was done to prove herself right vs. learning anything from the other side. She would rather be right about her transphobia, demean & dismiss a marginalized community, and hold on tight to her transphobic views than own the fact she is ignorant as hell, has prejudice, feels challenged, and doesn’t know what to do with all. Her need to be “right” hurts people! FUCK THAT & FUCK YOU, JKR!! Thank you so much, Dom, for your stand & being an ally! I know it was hard given what HP means to you. I, also, know that at the end of the day standing for what’s right means a lot more.

Kimberly Weekes

You want advice as to keep one's peace of mind amid social media nonsense? Unfollow, block, and do not take personal responsibility to educate others that are committed to disagreeing with you. I don't have a twitter or tumblr anymore. Love you, man. Keep doing what you are doing.

Thank you, Dom. This was the right thing to do. And I'm glad you're finding a way to keep Terrance in the mix.

You know in retrospect, I'm kind of glad that Fantastic Beasts 2 was so terrible, it killed my interest in Harry Potter. It's not that this has all been easy, but it hasn't hit as hard. sigh......

WillRigby

Thanks for doing this Dom. I have been struggling with this too as Harry Potter has been such an important part of my life the last 20 years but I cannot ignore the horrible things JKR has been saying. Everyone has the right to be themselves and live their lives without others judging them and/or trying to limit their rights to be themselves. Goodbye Harry Potter

So much love and support for all the love and support you give your watchers. Well done! And yay for more Terrence.

Omg! I love that ending! Ps, fuck JKR, I take back my public school speak I wrote on her, saying the was the best woman out there for writing Philosophers Stone. I got all the merch I want, got my books from second hand stores, so she’ll no longer be getting my money. So I thank you in the name of my friends who are part of the community, and as everyone should, embrace them.

I totally understand your reasons and support you...just dont kill of Terence!!

David Phillips

I wanted to say thank you for two things; this clarification on your stance, which makes me feel way more comfortable as a nonbinary person, and the bit about 6 minutes in about not sending death threats. Waaay too many of those on the internet these days.

You're a good man, Dom. Thank you.

LupinThe8th

Glad you made this video and have been so public in your support of Transgender people. Also that was a nice touch with Terrance at the end there.

cosmotron

You were very brave for doing this, Dom. I know it's hard to give up something you've loved your entire life because the person who made it is bat-shit insane.

Rachel Winship

As a gender-neutral person who has been told for years that I'm fundamentally wrong, this video made me cry in the best of ways. Thank you so much. Everything surrounding JK Rowling has just hurt. Reading the tweets hurt. Reading the responses to them hurt. I took a break from Twitter and Tumblr to clear my head, and when I went back, it still hurt. It's like one of the few fantasy places that I can actually escape into in real life was ripped away from me. I look at all the Hufflepuff gear I've collected including the cup of Helga Hufflepuff herself and just feel sick. I'll probably pack them away for now. Who knows? Maybe a year or two down the line, things will change, but right now, I just can't support her or anything affiliated with her.

Kelsea

Thank you, you beautiful, beautiful person.

transman here! thank u for making this video dude. the harry potter-athon is what my friend recommended to me a couple years back and hooked me on your channel. jkr can bugger off, she's been flapping her mouth far too much recently and im glad ppl are collectively realising she's just full of shit. much love, looking forward to seeing more of rebranded terrence lmao 👍

Thank you.

It is hard to basically quit cold turkey on something you loved. When I found out what Doug Walker had done and the crap Brad Jones said about his former coworkers in an attempt to cover his ass, I was devastated. I met so many good friends and found so many different forms of media thanks to Channel Awesome Crew and that is indirectly thanks to Doug. It got me through college when I was depressed or lonely and to quit them because of that was a hard thing for me. So I can empathize where you are coming from.

John Haslach

I'm a transgender man, and deeply appreciate this. I love Harry Potter. JK has really hurt me. "Equality for werewolves! House elves! Not trans people though"

Diego Valdes