Mick Hartley

The vilification of JK Rowling continues to amaze. 

Gamers have opened up a new front in the culture wars, calling for a boycott of the new Harry Potter release because of JK Rowling’s stance on trans issues.

Hogwarts Legacy is expected to be one of the blockbuster games of the year when it goes on sale on February 10. However, the lead-up to its release has been marked by a boycott campaign, a ban on discussing the game on a prominent forum, actors facing a backlash and the sacking of an employee.

Warner Bros Games has gone out of its way to make the role-playing game inclusive, with players able to become trans wizards and witches.

Alan Tew, the game’s director, told the IGN website: “We know it’s a diverse audience. For us, it’s making sure that the audience who always dreamt of having this game had the opportunity to feel welcomed back.”

The game’s website states that “JK Rowling is not involved in the creation of the game” but that her team collaborated in its making.

For Rowling’s critics this is not enough, and prominent voices in the transgender community have urged people not to buy the game.

Jessie Earl, 30, a trans YouTuber and journalist who has 200,000 subscribers, provoked Rowling when she tweeted that “any support of something like Hogwarts Legacy is harmful”….

Will Overgard, a US gamer who works in the industry, urged a complete boycott. In a video that has been viewed two million times, he argued that “by supporting the title you are essentially aligning yourself with some really heinous transphobic values”.

No examples provided, of course. Rowling has never said anything transphobic beyond insisting that sex is real, but calling out her "really heinous transphobic values" is an article of faith now, to be repeated as a sign of adherence to the cult. The witch-hunt is unstoppable.

When the voiceover cast was announced, the British actor Sebastian Croft, who features in the LGBT Netflix series Heartstopper, was forced to clarify his involvement after a backlash.

“I was cast in this project over three years ago, back when all Harry Potter was to me was the magical world I grew up with,” he said. “This was long before I was aware of JK Rowling’s views. I believe wholeheartedly that trans women are women and trans men are men.”

Ooh isn't he brave? Yes yes, 2 + 2 = 5, please don't be nasty to me!

A man would never get this kind of continuing obsessive abuse .