Oxfam faces boycott calls over a Pride month cartoon which saw it accused of basing an anti-trans ‘villain’ on J.K. Rowling. The Mail has more.
The video, which was shared online with charity’s millions of supporters, featured three figures, two men and a woman, with evil-looking eyes.
But the woman appeared to look like the Harry Potter author.
Ms. Rowling is understood to have seen the cartoon and liked a tweet criticising the depiction of the cartoon character. She declined to comment when approached by MailOnline.
Oxfam insisted this afternoon it was not supposed to be based on anyone and said it would re-release a cut version of the cartoon. The version it later published had completely removed the scene.
The cartoon character in the original appeared to resemble Ms. Rowling’s usual haircut and style, as well as a green dress she has been pictured wearing. A memorial poppy she wore in the real image – taken at a 2018 film premiere – is replaced with a badge, bearing the word “Terf”. The acronym stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist, a view the author has denied having.
It came on the same day the charity was accused of hounding out a volunteer for defending the writer. A former worker – calling herself Maria – said she was accused of transphobia before settling with the charity, which apologised for its handling of the process.
Philosopher Kathleen Stock criticised the advert on Twitter today, saying: “This has shocked me – a still from an Oxfam video, made in support of Pride month.”
Maya Forstater, a business studies and international development researcher, accused the charity of “demonising safeguarding, demonising older women, promoting double-mastectomies to children, bulk harassment of gender -critical staff”.
She said the video was “shocking” and was appalled that “no on in the chain of command” had “internally raised concerns” about the video.
Other Twitter users called for a boycott of Oxfam, alleging they would no longer be making donations to the establishment. Many also urged others to make formal complaints against the firm.
Today supporters of Ms. Rowling said she should consider legal action against the charity over the video.
An hour after being [contacted] by MailOnline about the similarities between the cartoon and the writer, Oxfam took the video down.
It then said: “Oxfam believes that all people should be able to make decisions which affect their lives, enjoy their rights and live a life free of discrimination and violence, including people from LGBTQIA+ communities.
“In efforts to make an important point about the real harm caused by transphobia, we made a mistake. We have therefore edited the video to remove the term TERF and we are sorry for the offence it caused. There was no intention by Oxfam or the film-makers for this slide to have portrayed any particular person or people.”
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Julie Bindel writes in the Mail that “Oxfam is a toxic charity that has shifted so far from its original aims as to be almost unrecognisable. Its new video is a vile, misogynistic attack against J.K. Rowling”.
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