Harry Potter Creator J.K. Rowling Reportedly Blocks Fan After Johnny Depp Criticism

For better or for worse, Twitter has permanently impacted the communication between celebrities [...]

By Patrick Cavanaugh

For better or for worse, Twitter has permanently impacted the communication between celebrities and fans, with the service allowing direct and immediate access to everyone's favorite creators. Recently, a fan reached out to Harry Potter scribe J.K. Rowling about the controversies surrounding Johnny Depp's casting in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, only for the author to block the fan.

The exchange began relatively innocently, with the fan merely hoping Rowling would use her voice to clarify the seeming double standard of one actor losing their job over drug-related issues while Depp still played a prominent role in the series, despite his then-wife Amber Heard getting a restraining order against him over allegations of domestic abuse.

Heard received $7 million in the divorce settlement, with the actress proclaiming she would donate the money to various charities.

Rather than address the fan's question in any capacity, the user then posted a photo showing that Rowling had blocked her.

The user, who goes by "Lindsey B" on the site, also claimed this was the first and only time she tagged the author on the site and wasn't the result of a long string of attacks.

"[Like] a lot of fans I do not agree with Depp playing Grindelwald," Lindsey told Mashable. "Like I said in my tweet he abused Amber but because he's famous his career won't be affected by his actions. To me this is wrong and that's why I'm against Johnny Depp playing a role in Fantastic Beasts."

The decision to cast Depp in the role has been surrounded by controversy since his appearance was announced ahead of the first film, making Lindsey far from the first person to voice their displeasure with Hollywood's response to domestic abuse.

Given that Rowling is such an active member of Twitter, often using the platform to criticize the behavior of others, the action of blocking Lindsey seems aggressive, as Rowling could have merely ignored the comment and not drawn attention to the controversy.

"I never expected this and the reactions to the tweet have been very diverse," Lindsey shared of social media's response. "Some people congratulate me on being blocked, some tell me how sorry they are this happened to me and of course, there's also a bit of hatred."

Lindsey's tweet announcing the block currently has over 50,000 retweets.

[H/T Mashable]

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