Daily Star

‘Let’s end JK Potter gold over trans row’ FANSITE FOUNDER IN CALL FOR A BOYCOTT

- ■ by ANTONY THROWER antony.thrower@dailystar.co.uk

THE founder of a Harry Potter fansite has called for a boycott of JK Rowling’s books and films over her anti-trans comments.

Melissa Anelli, of The Leaky Cauldron site, added her voice to growing condemnati­on of the author – despite Rowling opening her heart about her violent first marriage in her defence.

Melissa said: “My grief for what she went through personally is wholly apart from how terrible she’s being to others right now. Suffering doesn’t allow you to harm others. It should make you less likely.”

And she shared a social media post saying: “Stop giving her money: don’t buy new books, don’t buy official merch, don’t see the play, don’t rent or buy the movies, don’t see the movies in theatres, don’t go to the theme park.”

The backlash comes after Rowling, 54, hit out at a headline about “people who menstruate”, later writing herself: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

She wrote on her own website about wanting to protect single-sex spaces from “predators”. And she said she refused “to bow” to those “seeking to erode ‘woman’ as a political and biological class”.

Rowling later defended her comments with claims of domestic abuse at the

BACKLASH: Melissa and, left, author Rowling

hands of ex Jorge Arantes, a Portuguese journalist who has admitted he slapped her. Those attacking the writer include Pottervers­e actors Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Eddie Redmayne.

Radcliffe, 30, who played Harry, said: “Transgende­r women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgende­r people and goes against all advice given by profession­al health care associatio­ns.”

The Weald School in Billingshu­rst, West Sussex, has also said it no longer plans on naming a house after Rowling.

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ONE in five small business owners is unaware of how much they pay in fees by using third parties to bill clients, according to a poll by payments service Ordo.

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