Drag Race legend Jinkx Monsoon delivers brutal takedown of JK Rowling's pen name
The author, 60, has been publicly criticized for her controversial statements about transgender people, including celebrating the UK Supreme Court's April ruling that trans women are not legally women under the Equality Act. However, the Harry Potter author has denied being transphobic.
Many famous faces have hit back at Rowling's views, including Monsoon, who identifies as non-binary. During Thursday's episode of comedian Ziwe's podcast, he asked Monsoon if Rowling would 'make a good Roxy Hart in Chicago,' the Broadway musical.
The drag performer responded: 'Who is this? Who is this Jake? Who is he? JK Rowling.'
When Ziwe said Rowling 'is a she,' Monsoon then mocked the author's name. Rowling notably goes by her initials, JK, which stands for Joanne Kathleen.
'That is not a feminine name in the slightest,' they said about Rowling. 'I know that oftentimes, female authors use initials so that people assume it's a male writer.'
Monsoon continued to throw shade at Rowling's views about transgender rights and issues.
'I have to presume that J.K. Rowling was unsatisfied with the way that the world saw her, and then she transitioned herself into a new personality so that the world would perceive her the way she wanted to be perceived,' they continued.
After a moment of silence, Ziwe responded to the remark with: 'Gagging,' prompting Monsoon to burst out laughing.
Rowling has previously opened up about going by the pen name, telling CNN in 2017 that it wasn't her idea to use it. Instead, it was her publisher who was trying to 'disguise [her] gender.'
'I was so grateful to be published, if they told me to call myself Rupert, I probably would have done to be honest with you,' she said. 'But now, I actually quite like having a pen name, because I feel that's — to an extent, that feels like an identity and then I'm — in private life, I'm Jo Murray. And it feels like quite a nice separation.'
Rowling also uses the pen name Robert Galbraith when publishing her ongoing detective series, Cormoran Strike. She uses the pseudonym because she 'wanted to take [her] writing persona as far away as possible from [her],' as noted on her website.
Since December 2019, Rowling has also hit the headlines for her views on transgender issues. She came out in support of Maya Forstater, who worked as a tax expert at the Centre for Global Development, an international think tank, and was sacked after tweeting that transgender people cannot change their biological sex.
Since then, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, the trio of child actors who played Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger in the film series, have all publicly shunned Rowling over her apparent anti-transgender views. The author has said she would not forgive them for criticizing her, telling them to 'save their apologies.'
Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy, was recently asked whether Rowling's views 'impact you at all or impact your work in the world of Harry Potter at all.'
'No, I can't say it does,' he replied. 'I'm not really that attuned to it.'
In May, Rowling announced the launch of the J.K. Rowling Women's Fund. The legal fund, which doesn't specifically mention transgender people, will support 'individuals and organizations fighting to retain women's sex-based rights in the workplace, in public life, and in protected female spaces,' its website says.
However, many bookstores in San Francisco later responded to the fund in with protest by pulling Harry Potter books from stores' shelves.
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