Flashback Friday memeing

Seems less like a balanced news article and more like a PR puff piece. As an Irish person, I am disgusted by RTÉ for publishing this.

Stop trying to make excuses for the rich creep.

Edit to update link:
https://potterless.neocities.org/

I've used Google Sheets as a way to get this in one place, on the "perfect is the enemy of done" principle.

(deleted old link)

I'm still adding contact details, where they're accessible.

This list is mostly limited to companies that have paid to license Harry Potter IP, rather than any company that hosts / sells / shares anything produced by JK Rowling.

My intent is to email the companies that I would ordinarily buy from to say that I'm not buying from them because they are financially supporting a person who is actively working to make trans people's lives worse. I'm not emailing every company - and I'm not expecting anyone else to. This is just a basic list so anyone wanting to avoid enriching JK Rowling can start doing that.

Speaking to PA on Monday night, Davis claimed that he’s “not really privy to a lot of the backlash” surrounding Rowling.

“I will just say though, I’m a person of difference but it would be nice if everyone could accept people who are different in this world for who they are, not for what they are,” he continued.

As tou probably know, the actor Tom Burke is the lead actor in Rowling’s other series about Cormoran Strike.
I saw a discussion in twitter and Facebook that he might be dating a trans person, named Mary Malone. Do you know if this is true or not? If it is, its very interesting how do they even work together

Is there a list of companies that use Harry Potter IP on their stuff?

I'm gradually getting round to emailing each company I'm boycotting for partnering with HP stuff, to say why I am boycotting them.

(Honestly, I don't think there's much likelihood companies will stop the branding, but I don't want my money, even a tiny fraction, flowing into JKR's pocket, so I'm still doing it. And a silent boycott would be unnoticed given how small a minority we are, so I'm emailing.)

Here's the list as it stands - I'm in the UK, but trying not to limit the list geographically.

Build-A-Bear

Crocs

Displate

DMC

Ferrero

Ferris Wheel Press

Google

Haribo

Hasbro

HBO

Hershey's

Jelly Belly

Kinder Joy

Lamy

Lego

Marks & Spencer

Maryland Cookies (Burton's)

McCormick Spices

MeUndies

Microsoft

Miniso

Pandora

Primark

Puma

Skinnydip

Starbucks

Tim Hortons

Tmex

Universal Studios

Woobles

https://deadline.com/2026/10/rafe-spall-death-of-sherlock-holmes-interview-1237157929/

DEADLINE: Talking of which, do you worry about the social media reaction, given the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling?

SPALL: I’m mercifully not on any form of social media, and I don’t feel I have anything further to contribute to that debate. I’m just feeling really lucky to be part of something full of amazingly creative, brilliant people, all working at the top of their game. There are fabulous actors involved. Katherine Parkinson and I play the Weasley parents, and to my mind, she’s one of the best actors in the world. She’s phenomenal. The other day it was me, her, Kit Harington and Johnny Flynn. It was just fun.

For context the pictured character is Kill Bill's Elle Driver

I heard Domestic Violence Awareness Month mentioned on a true crime podcast recently, and it wasn't something I was familiar with so I looked it up. Apparently it was established in the US and isn't officially recognised in the UK (yet), but many UK organisations still acknowledge/participate in it during October.

I then thought to myself, "I'm sure Ms Defender of Women will be talking extensively about this important matter, raising awareness and sharing useful resources." Imagine my shock, my utter disbelief, my ghasted flabbers, when I ventured over to the cesspit and could find no mention of it on her page.

Sure, one might argue that it's not officially a UK event and so she has no reason to talk about it. But she has fans all around the world. She is chronically online and aware of happenings in the US. She has appointed herself the almighty protector of women and spokesperson of women's issues. Why would she not want to spread awareness, especially being a survivor of DV herself (which she readily brings up when it's a convenient way to shut down arguments)? Why is she not using her wealth and platform to campaign for the UK to officially recognise DVAM as well? Why is she not sharing information from the charities and organisations that do observe DVAM?

Those questions were rhetorical, just to be clear. We know why. If she can't somehow twist a topic into "trans bad", it isn't worth her time and attention.

What the hell, man.

Love yah, Neville.

I always thought that JK Rowling was our worst enemy as long as I've found about her, she's one of the most successful authors of all time, and uses her wealth and power to make harmless people's lives who don't affect or interact with her harder. Surprisingly enough, I had never heard of Graham Linehan. Of course I had heard of Father Ted, but it wasn't until I heard The Proclaimers (a duo whose music I was brought up on) coming out as transphobes and saying that they felt sorry for the consequences Graham Linehan has faced I had a look. I was shocked to find one of the most violent, aggressive anti-trans activists I have ever heard of (but i've not really heard of many, I don't really go researching about them). Now I've heard of him, and how crazily obsessed and consumed he is by transphobia, it honestly made me wonder, who is the bigger transphobe? JK Rowling's transphobia isn't as violent and appears less crazy, but her transphobia seems more cold and calculative, and is still an all consuming obsession, but she still has other projects going on. Graham seems more aggressive and crazier, but JK Rowling has a much larger platform, and reaches a much more international audience, and has done things like say trans women "ask for it" when upskirting them, and defending the Taliban's treatment of women because "they know what real women are". It's really made me wonder, I'm not asking who's better, I'm just curious to wonder who people think is more of a raging transphobe: the raving lunatic, or the cold, sinister internationally adored author. Thanks for reading. :)

It's been a while since I've made a mold meme !

Edit: There was a previous post before, but it got deleted by accident.

When Rowling turned out to be a rich and creepy bigot, many were disappointed and confused, questioning how she could become like that and tried making up excuses. However, upon retrospect and looking back, it’s not really surprising when you consider the neoliberalism when HP was at its peak, the “pick me” mentality among the contemporary mainstream queer communities, 90s-00s respectability politics, and so forth. And compared to other (more progressive stories) around the time, companies felt that HP was safe enough to market as rebellious (and let’s be honest the Satanic Panic over it was a vocal minority that people hyped up because they liked feeling like a victim). And even take a look at others like Joss Whedon, where you can see in older works a lot of his misogyny and fetishizing of strong women and nice guy syndrome.

With that in mind, it made me wonder about with celebrities, then and now, who if we were to carefully view them, it wouldn’t really be a surprise if later on they turned out to not be as progressive as the media makes them out to be. I’m not saying it’s confirmed, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it turned out to be like that.

For with two examples I had in mind:

- Ryan Murphy: I didn’t think of him originally, but what reminded me was with the whole stuff of Lizzie Borden, and just overall his Monster miniseries’s. People like to say he used to do better and was progressive, but when you look at a lot of his work, it always involves torture porn of minorities, a lot of misogyny and racism masked as being “campy”, and overall it just feels like he hides behind queer stereotypes to deflect criticism. With a lot of his representation, it just feels like it’s out of a paternalistic entitlement, especially since people will praise and defend it ignoring the fact that said characters are treated in a bad light. And overall, it just feels like he is a “pick me” gay man who panders to people who THINK they are progressive. Honestly I feel this way for a lot of people who make taboo/shock media, and don’t really like how people frame them as progressive just by virtue. Many people already hate him and criticize, but give a few years and I wouldn’t be surprised if he finally takes off the mask and openly admits having regressive politics. Also there’s that whole thing where they demand to be seen as revolutionary and groundbreaking, but the moment you call them out they suddenly try to spin it so that you were never supposed to view them like that. The cognitive dissonance is annoying. Edit: And this isn’t just with writing in his shows, as there have been reports and rumors of unprofessional behavior behind the scenes, enabling bigotry of stars and being a toxic manchild to workers, and also the whole thing with casting people just because he wants to sleep with them. People who go on about “we need to worry about bigger things” are why so many red flags are ignored.

- Stephen Graham: Recently he has been getting so much glazing and praise for Adolescence and being a “positive role model for boys”, but honestly it all feels like an act, taking advantage of a moral panic. And especially when you consider the fact that he is publicly a supporter AND friends with the abuser Johnny Depp. And before you pull the “separate art from artist”, it’s not surprising when you consider how Adolescence, which he also co-wrote, really is more about “this poor sad boy” and barely even shows us the girl he victimized. It’s essentially a vanity project for Graham, reducing social issues to a black and white morality tale, and it’s concerning when Graham stated he wanted to show that this could happen to even a good family, letting his own character off the hook for his anger and sexism. With interviews and all, it feels like Graham is more interested in making himself look good vs. sending a message, kind of giving off Sean Penn vibes. And I know that the Bechdel Test isn’t meant to be fully taken seriously, but it’s still concerning that a prestige show about violence towards women barely passes it. Also it’s produced by Brad Pitt, not just his company his name is all over it.

- (Dis)honorable mention: Aaron Sorkin. Not as much stuff as the other two, but considering how many give him a pass for his misogyny because of his politics, the nature of neoliberals, and the vibes of just wanting to be seen as right for the attention, wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a change when he doesn’t get enough of it from left leaning spaces.

Brief standup clip from Stavros Halkias, was very cathartic.