When a former fan of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series lamented the author's revelation that master wizard Albus Dumbledore is gay, the Scottish writer took to Twitter to offer some alternate reading suggestions Saturday.
In a since-removed tweet, Georgia-based user Frank Fraticelli told the writer that his opinion on the series changed after the author revealed Dumbledore's sexual orientation in a question-and-answer session at Carnegie Hall in 2007.
"@jk_rowling once u revealed Dumbledore was homosexual I stopped being a fan. Nice how u blindsided us with that one. Enjoy your billion $," wrote Fraticelli on Saturday, according to tweets captured by The New Civil Rights Movement before they were removed.
In what NCRM founder David Badash acknowledged was "a rare and magical moment, Rowling replied."
Souter, Badash reports, is a conservative, antigay Scottish businessman, best known lately for his sizable donations to the campaign pushing for Scotland's independence from the United Kingdom. Incidentally, Rowling has used her Twitter account recently to make the case for Scotland's continued membership in the U.K., highlighting the oppositional stances of herself and Souter.
Rowling's tweet has received a massive amount of support, as it's been favorited more than 2,000 times, and garnered more than 1,000 retweets.
Badash notes that Fraticelli responded to the author, claiming that Christians would have shied away from the record-breaking fantasy series if they know one of the books' most beloved characters was gay.
"What would have changed if we knew?" asked Fraticelli in another since-removed tweet. "I believe many Christians would not have bought it. The networks may have shied away from it."
To that, Rowling simply replied by paraphrasing the legendary master wizard himself: