Since last year, J.K. Rowling has been a target of critics after blocking a fan on Twitter. According to the user, the reason would have been a questioning about Johnny Depp being cast as Gellert Grindelwald. The author, however, published a note in her website, elucidating the reasons of this and other blockages she does.

“I have one simple rule when I block people on Twitter, which I do very rarely. I block when my personal line has been crossed in terms of aggressive or insulting language.

Some recent publicity was given to the fact that I blocked a fan on Twitter. Contrary to the fan in question’s assertion, they were not blocked because they asked a question about Johnny Depp playing Grindelwald.

I saw several of this particular individual’s tweets by chance, and they were saying things to and about me, and about somebody with whom I work closely, that crossed the line of what I’m prepared to accept. The question about Grindelwald was not one of those tweets and I didn’t see it until the person in question began claiming that that was why they had been blocked.

Twitter has given me back a way of talking to readers directly and allows me a profound connection with a fandom that is, in the main, kind, tolerant and friendly. However, I have a duty towards my own mental health and happiness, too. The block button, is a useful last resort at times when somebody either forgets, or perhaps doesn’t care, that they are talking to a fellow human being.”

Johnny Depp was accused by the actress Amber Heard, his ex wife, of domestic violence. In other post at her website, the author had already defended the actor’s permanence in the cast of Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald

Besides to premiering as a screenwriter in 2016 with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Rowling also wrote the screenplay of the sequel, The Crimes of Grindelwald, which premieres on November 16, 2018, directed by David Yates. Beyond the Wizarding World borders, she prepares the fourth volume of the Cormoran Strike series, which she signs under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith.

News translated by: Letsa
Reviewed by: Caroline Dorigon