A best-selling children's author was sacked by her publishers after tweeting her support for JK Rowling
- Scottish children's author Gillian Philip has been fired by Working Partners and HarperCollins after tweeting her support for JK Rowling.
- Philip tweeted "#ISTANDWITHROWLING" after Rowling received criticism for new comments about trans people.
- Philip was part of a team of writers who all wrote under the pen name Erin Hunter to create popular animal fantasy series including "Warrior Cats," "Survivors," and "Bravelands."
- In a statement, Working Partners managing director Chris Snowdon said: "The decision taken was not in direct response to the nature of Gillian's personally expressed views."
- In her own statement, Philip said: "I am disappointed that the hard work and professional attitude I have brought to my work for HarperCollins and for Working Partners counted for nothing in the face of an abusive mob of anonymous Twitter trolls."
- Rowling has since made more comments about the saga, tweeting that: "we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people."
Gillian Philip, a Glasgow-born best-selling children's author, has been sacked from her job as one of several writers who write under the pen name Erin Hunter. Her removal from the team that writes animal fantasy series including "Warrior Cats," "Survivors," and "Bravelands," comes after she tweeted her support to JK Rowling after the "Harry Potter" author's controversial comments about trans people.
Philip tweeted "#ISTANDWITHROWLING" on June 7.
In a statement on Sunday night following the decision to remove her by publication companies HarperCollins and Working Partners, Philip wrote: "I am disappointed that the hard work and professional attitude I have brought to my work for HarperCollins and for Working Partners counted for nothing in the face of an abusive mob of anonymous Twitter trolls.
"It is concerning that my concerns about women's legal rights and spaces have been presented as 'transphobia', and that this accusation has been allowed to stand by my former employers."
Working Partners had received numeral tweets from angry fans calling for them to fire Philip. Eventually, she was. Chris Snowdon, the managing director of the company, said in a statement:
"Erin Hunter is not a single person but a diverse team of creatives and writers. We recently became aware that Gillian Philip had associated the Erin Hunter pen-name with her personal views on Twitter, thus associating them with the whole collective.
"In light of this situation, the decision was taken to no longer work with Gillian Philip. The decision taken was not in direct response to the nature of Gillian's personally expressed views."
Rowling initially shared an article that contained the phrase "people who menstruate," and joked that there is a word for that:
Rowling then doubled down in a series of tweets about trans women, followed by an essay titled "TERF Wars."
Her comments were deemed transphobic by many, and led to several "Harry Potter" stars publicly speaking out against Rowling, including Daniel Radcliffe and Eddie Redmayne.
Rowling has since made more comments about the trans community. In a thread, Rowling said that she was taking a stand against people who "lie" about her views on mental health writing:
Later in the thread, Rowling wrote: "Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people, who are being set on a lifelong path of medicalisation that may result in the loss of their fertility and/or full sexual function."
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