JK Rowling has collaborated with Stephen Fry on her new audiobook. (Getty)
JK Rowling has announced that Stephen Fry will narrate the audiobook of her fairytale The Ickabog, to the disappointment of his trans fans.
On Monday (November 9), Rowling announced on Twitter that the actor and comedian will read the English language audiobook of her new story The Ickabog, released on Tuesday (November 10).
Fry previously narrated the Harry Potter audiobooks, but in light of Rowling’s heavily criticised statements on trans lives, his involvement in this latest project has saddened fans.
One Twitter user wrote: “Stephen Fry has really disappointed just about every trans fan of his by doing this.”
@stephenfry has really disappointed just about every trans fan of his by doing this. https://t.co/cSsBxtKXS1
— Gwen Nelson (@gwennelsonuk) November 10, 2020
According to The Ickabog website, the net profits from the book will be donated to Rowling’s Volant Charitable Trust to help “vulnerable groups who have been particularly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic”, both in the UK and internationally.
Queer and trans people around the world have been left especially vulnerable during the pandemic.
Stephen Fry called transphobia ‘ugly scar on the world’.
Stephen Fry was among many cis celebrities to send “love and support” to the trans community on Trans Day of Visibility (Mach 31) this year.
Speaking on YouTube’s the Sarah O’Connell Show, he said trans people “face enough difficulties in stepping up to who they really are and becoming who they know they were born to be”.
He added: “I think we all really owe it to them to show our support and to fight against transphobia which is an ugly scar on the world at the moment.”
In July, Fry was among the signatories of an open letter than called for a ban on conversion therapy and condemned the “demonising” of trans people in the UK.
The letter stated: “One in seven trans people have been offered services to stop them being trans and many trans people are also LGB.
“There has been a growing, dangerous suggestion that trans healthcare should be prevented on the basis that it is itself a form of conversion therapy. This will further contribute to the demonising of trans people within the UK.”
At around the same time, Rowling came under heavy criticism for likening healthcare for young trans people to “a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people”.
PinkNews has contacted representatives of Stephen Fry for comment.