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It looks like the people of Nelson, British Columbia have their own version of Rita Skeeter on their hands, albeit with less panache. Admitting that he’ll “end up sounding like a curmudgeon”, Charles Jeanes writing to the Nelson Star admits that he went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (adding a nasty “thankfully” around the “last” movie part for effect) and then proceeds to call JK Rowling greedy and stupid.

Says Curmudgeon– pardon me, Jeanes:

She is the mistress of writing to get rich by expanding some pretty thin ideas into very thick books.

Rowling is doomed to be shallow by her own lack of mental furnishings.

I’m not going to dwell on how rude and ignorant Charlie appears to be, but I will say a couple of things in Jo’s defence (though I’m somewhat inclined to just ignore the article altogether):

First off, Jo had no way of knowing how popular both she and her books would become when she started to write Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone which apparently was a great source of comfort and inspiration for her at the time. Let’s also not forget that she has and continues to donate millions to various charities and founded Lumos (formerly the Children’s High Level Group) which she continues to chair. I’d also say that Jo is very modest and conservative with her money and lifestyle for a person accused of writing to be rich. There’s also the question of why a person with millions of fans devoted to her series would stop the flow of books at seven if she was in it for the cash.

It sounds to me like Charlie’s just bitter and a little sad. And for someone who feels like he’s smart and perfect enough to judge others like this, I’m wondering why he doesn’t own the Nelson Star yet?

Read the article here but first comment below!