Judy Blume may be 85 years old, but she's not shy about throwing down on Twitter if she needs to. The Independent reports that the popular children's author—who has penned such classics as Deenie, Forever, and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret—is responding to backlash directed her way after a recent interview in which she appeared to support fellow writer JK Rowling, who's taken heat for what many say are transphobic views. In that interview with Hadley Freeman, published over the weekend in the London Times, Blume said, "I love [Rowling]," and that she was "behind her 100% as I watch from afar."
In the article, Freeman wrote that Blume's support was in regard to the online abuse Rowling says she's received "for speaking up in defense of women's sex-based rights," per the Hollywood Reporter. Blume didn't completely agree with how Freeman framed it, and the author took to social media on Sunday to clarify, insisting her comments were "taken out of context." "I wholly support the trans community," she wrote in a Twitter post. Her point, she noted, was that "I can empathize with a writer—or person—who has been harassed online." Blume then reinforced her first sentence, writing, "I stand with the trans community and vehemently disagree with anyone who does not fully support equality and acceptance for LGBTQIA+ people. Anything to the contrary is total bull---."
Freeman responded early Monday, calling the new controversy over Blume's remarks "nonsense" and "absurd," and noting that "my quotes [from Blume] are accurate and not disputed." Meanwhile, others pointed out that, while Blume's explicit support for the trans community was appreciated, she shouldn't be positioning what Rowling has been facing online as harassment. Rowling "has aided harassment and bigotry on a massive scale and has received comparably small pushback online in response," journalist Kat Tenbarge wrote. (More Judy Blume stories.)
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