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Published 20:47 IST, June 8th 2020

Harry Potter's Katie Leung 'cancels' JK Rowling over her alleged transphobic tweets

Harry Potter's Cho Chang AKA Katie Leung just 'cancelled' author JK Rowling over her alleged transphobic tweets without even mentioning her. Read more details.

Reported by: Shweta Patokar
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Katie Leung, who is known for playing the character of Cho Chang in the Harry Potter series, has found a way to call out JK Rowling over her controversial statements regarding the trans community. The author made headlines recently for a series of tweets that were perceived to be transphobic. Apart from that, the author also faced flak for naming her Asian character as 'Cho Chang'. 

Harry Potter's Katie Leung responds to 'Cho Chang' controversy

The name was perceived to be racist and people also mentioned the fact that both Cho and Chang are last names. A lot of fans asked Katie Leung to react to the name controversy. Responding to that, she took to her social media and posted a series of links for pro-trans organisations under a thread of her thoughts on Cho Chang. She concluded her thread by using the hashtag #AsiansForBlackLives. 

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Fans were quick to come out in support of her and filled the comments section with praises for the actor. One user wrote, "Did she- she really cancelled j k rowling without even talking about her? That's such a Ravenclaw thing to do! Cho Chang would be proud!!". Another one wrote, "Katie really went Avada Kedavra on racism and transphobia".

JK Rowling's tweets seemed to have hurt the sentiments of a lot of fans. One woman took to the comment's section in Katie Leung's thread to pen down her feelings after reading the tweets. She said she felt cried at the thought of some trans kid who loves Harry Potter coming across Rowling's tweets and thanked Katie for speaking out. 

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The author earlier shared an article titled Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate which was written in a series of tweets. When people pointed out that her statements seem to be insensitive towards the trans community, she went on the share a series of tweets about it and ended up making more controversial statements. 

Continuing into the same thread, JK Rowling wrote, "I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it’s hateful to say so". [sic] The author's comments come amid the Pride month and at a time where the US is united in fighting against racism.

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Updated 20:47 IST, June 8th 2020