- Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke cancel culture and J.K. Rowling on Friday.
- Putin compared the author to Russia as victims of "cancel culture."
- Rowling "didn't satisfy the demands of gender rights," Putin said.
During televised remarks on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling as he compared the response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine to cancel culture.
The Russian leader said Rowling's cancelation came about because she "didn't satisfy the demands of gender rights," according to The Hollywood Reporter's translation.
"They are now trying to cancel our country. I'm talking about the progressive discrimination of everything to do with Russia," Putin said after invoking Rowling as a victim of "progressive discrimination," according to THR's translation.
—philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) March 25, 2022
Putin was referring to Rowling's comments about transgender people that have led stars of the "Harry Potter" film franchise to speak out against her.
He then compared the economic sanctions on Russia and the backlash to Rowling as modern examples of Nazi book burning.
"We remember the footage when they were burning books," Putin said, according to THR's translation. "It is impossible to imagine such a thing in our country and we are insured against this thanks to our culture. And it's inseparable for us from our motherland, from Russia, where there is no place for ethnic intolerance, where for centuries representatives from dozens of ethnic groups have been living together."
Even before the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian leader aligned his messaging with many of the recurring themes in US right-wing media, with cancel culture chief among them.
Shortly after Putin's comments began to circulate online on Friday, Rowling tweeted a statement in response.
—J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 25, 2022
"Critiques of Western cancel culture are possibly not best made by those currently slaughtering civilians for the crime of resistance, or who jail and poison their critics," Rowling tweeted, adding a hashtag supporting Ukraine.