Trans-activists labeled JK Rowling as “transphobic” due to her comments on social media. In response, some who work for Hachette publishing, her publisher, to end her contract. In response, Hachette replied.

“We fundamentally believe that everyone has the right to express their own thoughts and beliefs. That’s why we never comment on our authors’ personal views and we respect our employees’ right to hold a different view,”

Commenting on the discomfort and anger from employees threatening to cease working on Rowling’s upcoming novel, The Ickabog

We will never make our employees work on a book whose content they find upsetting for personal reasons, but we draw a distinction between that and refusing to work on a book because they disagree with an author’s views outside their writing, which runs contrary to our belief in free speech.

Since their response, workers are threatening to shut down the publishing tools needed to finish Rowling’s latest book, The Ickabog. Internal conversations between publishers and employees are ongoing.