So, yesterday I joined the official Hogwarts Legacy server on Discord.

I have no intention of buying or playing the game because of JK Rowling’s anti-Semitic, transphobic remarks (nor do I have any intention of funding the franchise in any way, shape, or form), but I wanted to see the excuses that people were coming up with to justify playing this game. And let me tell you… I saw a lot of them. I also saw a lot of good people coming onto the server to try to spread awareness about why we should not collectively be lining the pockets of someone who has said these things who will go on to donate proceeds to anti-trans charities like she’s admitted to in the past, even though the majority of those people got banned from the server because people want to continue to keep up whatever flimsy pretenses they have to in order to justify continued consumption of this game. One of the things that I saw that bothered me, and stuck with me, was how guilty a lot of people felt about continuing to consume JK Rowling’s work in light of these comments being public knowledge, how they were desperate for other people not to find out about this, and how it was in many cases literally making them sick. If someone is such a bad person that consuming their media makes you have this kind of reaction, you need to consider… well, not consuming it.

At this point, it’s worthwhile making friends out of the people willing to risk being banned from the server for speaking up, as is it worthwhile to continue to inform people as to why they should not play this game or partake in any more media consumption from JK Rowling. That’s about it, though. The rest is not worth it.