The BBC was forced to issue an apology on Sunday after a transgender radio guest went on an unhinged rant against “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling.
What happened on BBC radio?
Last week, gamer Stacey Henley was invited on BBC Radio to discuss the new “Harry Potter”-themed game, Hogwarts Legacy.
During the course of the interview, Henley said that Henley’s gaming website would not report on the new game because of its ties to Rowling. Indeed, critics of Rowling have tried to boycott the game, but they have failed.
Henley accused Rowling of having “nasty views,” which Henley defined as “transphobia.”
“The reason we’re not [supporting the game] is really the fact that Harry Potter and the world that Harry Potter exhibits is just entirely connected to J.K. Rowling, but she has a platform that she uses to push transphobia, that she uses to build up this campaign against trans people, especially in Britain,” Henley said on the radio program. “Supporting this game continues to give J.K. Rowling a platform in which she can use to hurt people.”
How did the BBC respond?
The host of the BBC Radio show, Evan Davis, seemingly tried to defend Rowling, noting the billionaire author does not consider herself “transphobic.”
But the response did not go far enough, and listeners lodged more than 100 complaints. A spokesperson for the BBC has since issued an apology because David essentially allowed Henley to air Henley’s grievances without challenge.
“We do accept that there wasn’t sufficient challenge to the claims that were made and that we fell short here,” the BBC statement said.
“This is a difficult and contentious area which we do try very hard to cover fairly,” the statement continued. “However, we should have challenged the claims more directly and we apologize that we did not.”
Rowling is routinely attacked by activists and supporters of the trans agenda because she believes it actively harms women. Her critics accuse her of being a “TERF,” or trans-exclusionary radical feminist.
The campaign against Rowling began more than three years ago when she publicly supported a researcher who lost her job for stating that biological sex is real. She has remained outspoken against the trans agenda ever since.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!