J.K. Rowling Twitter Win: 'Harry Potter' Author Schools Homophobic Troll Over Dumbledore Comment

J.K. Rowling does not suffer fools lightly. The world renowned author is typically pretty Twitter shy, but she used the social media platform this weekend to shut down a former fan who complained about her announcement, back in 2007, that beloved Harry Potter character Albus Dumbledore is gay. Rowling, a long time gay-rights advocate, made it clear that she has no use for such criticism.

It is unclear why Twitter users Frank Fraticelli chose to voice his objection with Dumbledore’s sexual orientation now, nearly eight years after Rowling revealed it, but he is apparently still upset. Over the weekend he tweeted, “once you revealed Dumbledore was a homosexual I stopped being a fan. Nice how you blindsided us with that one, enjoy your billion $.”

The author, clearly not too concerned, simply responded, “I advise you to start following Brian Souter at once. He’s much more your kind of person.” Souter is a Scottish billionaire who financed a campaign to uphold a ban on the “promotion of homosexuality” in the nation’s schools. He and Rowling have both been in the news lately, on opposite sides of political debate over Scotland’s future. Rowling advocates for Scotland remaining tied to the UK, while Souter is a major  figure in the Free Scotland movement.

Rowling first discussed Dumbledore’s orientation during an audience Q&A following the release of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows. At the time she said, “I always thought of Dumbledore as gay.” She  explained that the character “fell in love with Grindewald, and that added to his horror when Grindewald showed himself to be what he was.” She later added that “It has certainly never been news to me that a brave and brilliant man could love other men.”

After receiving an outpouring of support from fans following this latest exchange, Rowling took to Twitter to express her gratitude, writing “I want to thank all the people tweeting me lovely messages. Don’t worry about me – to paraphrase Albus Dumbledore…” followed by “If you’re waiting for universal popularity, you’ll be on Twitter for a VERY long time. xxx.”