Rowling, Potterheads and why ‘The best way to manage a crisis is to prevent one’: Twitter communication analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since 2007, celebrity author J.K. Rowling has disseminated retroactive reconstruction (retcon) statements via social media that seemingly seek to expand character diversity in her transmedial Wizarding World of the Harry Potter franchise. In response, fans have used Twitter to call out the difference between Rowling’s assertions of diversity and actual diversity they consider authoritative or ‘canon’. Thus, Rowling’s retcon statements, rather than enhancing her reputation and audience experiences, have instead created Public Relations (PR) challenges. Focusing on Rowling’s 2019 comments regarding Dumbledore and Grindelwald’s relationship in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and the PR crisis they precipitated on Twitter, Rowling’s communication strategies in response to the PR challenge of reputational damage done by her Twitter statements, are examined, especially through the lens of Coombs’ Situational Crisis Communication Theory.