J.K. Rowling's controversial trans comments are impacting more than just the Harry Potter franchise.
According to The Daily Mail, staff at publishing house Hachette are refusing to work on Rowling's latest children's book, The Ickabog, due to her comments about the trans community. The internal division came to a head during a meeting about the publication, where multiple staff members expressed their reluctance to work on the book.
"Staff in the children’s department at Hachette announced they were no longer prepared to work on the book," one unnamed source said. "They said they were opposed to her comments and wanted to show support for the trans lobby." According to the source, the staff are all relatively young and in their twenties and thirties.
"It was a handful of staff, and they are entitled to their views," another unnamed source said. "If they were being asked to edit a book on domestic abuse, and they were a survivor of domestic abuse, of course they would never be forced to work on it. But this is a children's fairy tale. It is not the end of the world. They will all be having chats with their managers."
"We are proud to publish JK Rowling's children’s fairy tale The Ickabog. Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of publishing. We fundamentally believe that everyone has the right to express their own thoughts and beliefs. That's why we never comment on our authors’ personal views and we respect our employees’ right to hold a different view," the publishing house said in a statement.
It continued, "We will never make our employees work on a book whose content they find upsetting for personal reasons, but we draw a distinction between that and refusing to work on a book because they disagree with an author's views outside their writing, which runs contrary to our belief in free speech."
Rowling tweeted out her comments on June 7, causing an uproar in the LGBT and trans communities, and among their allies. Various Harry Potter stars have issues statements of support to their trans fans, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Katie Leung, Eddie Redmayne and Evanna Lynch. Warner Bros., which distributes the Harry Potter films, and Universal Parks & Resorts, which hosts The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park, also issued statements.