Harry Potter has recently been trending again all over social media, but not for a good reason. Author and creator of Harry Potter, J.K Rowling, wrote a few inappropriate and transphobic tweets, which made many people angry.

“I don’t believe anyone should be transphobic or support transphobia,” junior Amelia Bretl said.

Fans who grew up reading Harry Potter and had it be a part of their childhood are disappointed and angry. This made Harry Potter spike on TikTok for many reasons including the cast speaking out and apologizing even though they were not associated with the author’s tweets.

The Harry Potter series does not only have seven books, but seven movies as well. For the fans around the world, being able to see the movie and everything in real life action really helped build how people see Harry Potter. This entire series plays a big role in many people’s lives around the world. The series has changed their creativity and the way they see life. 

“I do end up coming back to the Harry Potter series a lot, the movies make me wish that that kind of reality could be real. Harry Potter has impacted my life in bringing more creativeness into my life and broadening my imagination,” junior Rosie Masters said.

Although J.K Rowling is one of the best selling authors and creator/writer, many took offense to Rowling’s transparent transphobia. Rowling’s tweets made many of her fans dislike her as well as the series because everything was written by her. However, a lot of the cast spoke out about her tweets and wanted to apologize for offensive comments.

“I myself support the LGBTQ+ community so when I hopped onto Twitter and saw the transphobic tweets, I wasn’t shocked. Rowling has a history of being anti-trans. I never supported her as a person but I read her works.” freshman Safiya Farah said. “When the actors spoke out, I think it said a lot because for example, Emma Watson showed her support for the community and bashed the person who gave her a head start on her career it made me feel warm.” 

Meanwhile, Harry Potter has been seeing a spike in popularity recently. Many are making inside jokes from the books, others are rewatching the movies and rereading the books, bringing back the nostalgia from their childhood. Along with scrolling through TikTok and coming across a Harry Potter related video can make some feel warm because something they enjoy so much is resurfacing the internet again.

“I think it is really great that Harry Potter is trending. It feels like it kind of died down a bit over the years, but I’m really glad to see it being popular again as it was a large part of my childhood,” Bretl explained.

Due to Rowling’s tweets causing Harry Potter to become a trend again, it brought the cast to speak out on their behalf because they were a part of Rowling’s very big series that built most of their careers. Because of that, it brought more positive attention to the cast members because of their kind words. 

“I’m a bit excited that people are paying attention to the characters again, because it seems no one else has the same infatuation with Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley as I do. I’m upset at the same time because the books are only in the limelight again because of the authors dumb comments that continue to hurt the LGBTQ+ community, especially her trans readers,” Farah added.

However, because the first book was released in 1997, and the first movie was released in 2001, some fans of this series were young viewers/readers causing some not to fully understand what is going on. The movies being released after the written books helped the young supporters get a clearer understanding. This draws them to want to rewatch the movies or reread the books.

“I started to love Harry Potter as I watched more of the movies, I have learned to enjoy the series more now as I am getting older,” Masters said. 

More than 500 million copies of of the series have sold worldwide, because the entire series has the power to transport the readers into a new world within its pages. It is a rollercoaster of tones and emotions that many people enjoy.

 “I enjoy the feeling of the magic in the first three movies but I do feel like after the third movie it got darker and created a more serious tone. However I really do enjoy the complexities of the movies and books,” Bretl added.