Stephen King says JK Rowling ‘cancelled’ him over trans row

Harry Potter author allegedly blocked King last summer

Stephen King has reflected on his and JK Rowling’s online fall-out last summer.

In June 2020, the Harry Potter author deleted a tweet expressing her love of fellow novelist King, after he confirmed that he supports trans women.

When asked about the incident in a new interview with Daily Beast, King said: “Jo cancelled me. She sorta blocked me and all that. Here’s the thing: She is welcome to her opinion. That’s the way that the world works.

“If she thinks that trans women are dangerous, or that trans women are somehow not women, or whatever problem she has with it – the idea that someone ‘masquerading’ as a woman is going to assault a ‘real’ woman in the toilet – if she believes all those things, she has a right to her opinion.”

He added: “And then someone tweeted at me, ‘Do you think trans women are women?’ and I said, ‘Yes, I do.’ And that’s what she got angry about – my opinion. It’s like the old saying, ‘I don’t agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.’ So, nobody has ‘cancelled’ JK Rowling. She’s doing fine. I just felt that her belief was, in my opinion, wrong. We have differing opinions, but that’s life.”

He added that people should keep in mind that Rowling’s opinion on trans women “is an outlier in her entire political spectrum”, explaining: “She was very much anti-Brexit and very much anti-Trump. She’s on the side of the angels in most respects, but she does have this one thing that she’s very vehement about. No doubt.”

King’s 2006 book, Lisey’s Story, has been adapted into a horror drama series starring Julianne Moore that begins on Apple TV+ on 4 June.