J.K. Rowling Squashes Homophobic Twitter User

Winnie McCroy READ TIME: 2 MIN.

Although it's been more than seven years since "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling revealed that central character Albus Dumbledore is gay, some readers are still pissed about it. But Rowling proved herself to be a real lady with her response to a homophobe who tweeted her this week.

The Huffington Post reports on Sept. 6, Twitter user @halfeveln55ff wrote Rowling: "@jk_rowling once u revealed Dumbledore was homosexual I stopped being a fan. Nice how u blindsided us with that one. Enjoy your billion $."

Although as MTV.com notes, "Rowling has only tweeted 132 times" in her five years on Twitter, she did not hesitate to reply to this anti-gay tweet, which has now been deleted.

Rowling tweeted, "@halfelven55ff I advise you to start following Brian Souter at once. He's much more your kind of person."

Oh, snap! Expecto patronum, bitch! Souter is referring to the wealthy Scottish businessman who spent a million pounds in 2000 to organize the "Keep the Clause campaign," which worked to oppose the government's plan to repeal a section of the local government act that preventing local authorities from "promoting homosexuality."

This magical response generated an outpouring of responses from fans on Twitter, responding to them, "I want to thank all the people tweeting me lovely messages. Don't worry about me - to paraphrase Album Dumbledore..."

And refinery29.com reported, "Basically, J.K. Rowling just orchestrated the perfect type of shutdown. She wasn't outright rude to @halfelven55ff -- in fact, she was kind of helpful. Still, her response conveyed the message perfectly: J.K. Rowling does read replies, and she hasn't got time for homophobia. Mischief managed."


by Winnie McCroy , EDGE Editor

Winnie McCroy is the Women on the EDGE Editor, HIV/Health Editor, and Assistant Entertainment Editor for EDGE Media Network, handling all women's news, HIV health stories and theater reviews throughout the U.S. She has contributed to other publications, including The Village Voice, Gay City News, Chelsea Now and The Advocate, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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