Can You Love the Art but Not the Artist?
When HBO first announced that they would be making a series retelling a childhood favorite, Harry Potter, I was both excited and disappointed. Excited because I adore the magical world this story brings to life. Disappointed because I know I will never watch it.
Don’t get me wrong - I’d love nothing more than to relive the magic of Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s adventures that sparked my love of reading as a child. But I still can’t bring myself to watch. The reason is simple although not always easy to sit with: I love the art, but not the artist.
J.K. Rowling needs no introduction for her work. But since writing Harry Potter she has become equally known for making public statements about transgender rights that many, including myself, find deeply harmful.
Statements like these don’t exist in a vacuum.
They can be harmful because they normalize violent rhetoric that can turn into violent actions. According to The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), violence against the trans community has risen 14% in America between 2024 and 2025. And as of October 28, 2025 the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has tracked 616 anti-LGBTQ bills that have been proposed in the United States in just this legislative year alone.
What makes Rowling’s statements so hard to reconcile with is that they completely contradict the morals at the heart of the Harry Potter series. She wrote seven novels about how friendship and loyalty can conquer the most powerful evils and how who we choose to be, not how we are born, ultimately reveal the goodness within all of us.
So this brings up another great question: Can we ethically enjoy the art when its creator promotes harm?
In this case, for me, the answer is; “sometimes”. But it comes with boundaries. I will keep rereading my well-worn copies of Harry Potter because the morals they teach still matter to me. But I will not buy anything that allows Rowling to potentially profit. If I ever need a new copy, I will purchase it from a local secondhand book store that supports small businesses and readers in my community. I will always love the story but just won’t support the person who told it.
So now it’s your turn to answer the age old question: Can you love art but not the artist? And what other forms of art still hold meaning for you, even when the artist no longer does?
