Today is Trans Day of Visibility, and coincidentally it’s also a day that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling saw profits plummet for her production company Brontë Film and TV.
The production company saw a 74 percent drop in profits after performances of Harry Potter And The Cursed Child were cancelled because of Covid, per Deadline. The company’s profits in the year up to March 2022 amount to about $2.2 million.
The company made almost $8.5 million the same period a year before. The company’s revenue also shrank by half. Brontë Film and TV blamed the drop on “lower income streams and profit shares from theatrical productions which were closed for a large part of the [financial] period due to Covid restrictions.”
Harry Potter Theatrical Productions, which is under the umbrella of Brontë, also saw it’s revenue drop by half to $4.3 million from $8.1 million. The BBC show Strike, however, based on a book series by Rowling pseudonym Robert Galbraith, will return.
This is despite the BBC being forced to apologize to Rowling twice over people on news shows calling her transphobic. Rowling has been vocal about her views on transgender women and by extension has been called a TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist) and transphobic.
There is a little bit of irony that Rowling sees such a dramatic profit loss on today of all days. President Joe Biden first introduced Transgender Day of Visibility in 2021, saying that it’s a day to “honor and celebrate the achievements and resiliency of transgender individuals and communities.”
In a statement released today, Biden highlighted the danger trans Americans face daily, saying “MAGA extremists are advancing hundreds of hateful and extreme state laws that target transgender kids and their families. No one should have to be brave just to be themselves.”
He said, “I want every member of the trans community to know that we see you. You’re each made in the image of God, and deserve love, dignity, and respect. You make America stronger, and we’re with you.”