"Harry Potter" author J. K. Rowling, who has come under criticism for her views, has returned a human rights award.
The British author J. K. Rowling (55), who became famous above all for her "Harry Potter" series of novels, has returned a human rights award she has been awarded. The author explains that on her website. She was honored in 2019 by the non-profit organization Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (RFKHR).
Partly because of the "very serious conflict in the views of myself and RFKHR, I think I have no choice but to return the 'Ripple of Hope' award I received last year," writes Rowling. She could not reconcile it with her conscience to keep the award after Kerry Kennedy, 60, the chairman of the organization and one of the children of Robert F. Kennedy, who was murdered in 1968, criticized Rowling.
A "deep disappointment"
Rowling, who had been recognized for her work with the Lumos charity she founded, initially caused a sensation a few months ago with several tweets. She had also angered a large section of her fan base with controversial statements about trans people.
Kennedy recently criticized the author on her organization's homepage. She spoke to Rowling to express her "deep disappointment" that the writer was abusing her talent to create a narrative that would "test the validity and integrity of the entire transgender community – a community disproportionately violent, Discrimination, harassment and exclusion suffers (…) ", undermine. Rowling's views are a "rejection of my father's vision".