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Fans fume as New York Times ad shows reader imagining Harry Potter without JK Rowling

This comes after JK Rowling faced severe backlash over her views on transgender rights

The New York Times is being slammed over an ad campaign that shows a reader imagining the Harry Potter series without JK Rowling after the author was accused of transphobia. "Lianna is imagining Harry Potter without its creator," read electronic billboards in a Washington DC metro station. The message can be seen laid over a face, followed by the captions, "Liana is a harmony of flavors", "Independent journalism for an independent life."

This comes after JK Rowling faced severe backlash over her views on transgender rights. Rowling, the world's richest author, came under fire after she said 'biological sex is real.' The author denied allegations of transphobia, saying she is just concerned with ensuring that single-sex spaces are preserved so that women's safety is ensured.

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With the massive backlash, JK Rowling has claimed time and again why she supports trans people and respects them but does not agree with them. She did so by speaking about the concept of sex being erased and how that would negatively impact women as it "removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives." 

She had earlier said, "If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth."

"The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women - ie, to male violence - ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences - is a nonsense," she had said, adding, "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."

The recent ad has come under fire with fans calling it ad 'dumb'. "I wouldn't choose "Lianna" to troll the brilliant and beautiful woman who wrote Harry Potter. Seriously, that's a repulsive ad in so many ways," a Twitter user said. "So no Harry Potter is what Lianna is imagining? That ad is so dumb," another wrote. 

"GARBAGE NEWS “NYT“ AIN’T WHAT IT USSED TO BE!," one user wrote, while another commented, "People who imagine a culturally iconic character without its creator are anti-intellectual fraudsters. JK Rowling cannot be disentangled from Harry Potter, and the fact that she has opinions as well should mean nothing at all. What on earth is the NYT playing at?" One user wrote, "This thread is astonishing. Is this real? How can the NYT advertise itself through the rhetorical vehicle of separating JK Rowling from her own artistic creation/ intellectual property?"