an online poll conducted by the staunchly left guardian newspaper seeking nominations for “person of the year” has been turned off, sparking speculation it was shut down when author j.k. rowling took the lead.  the poll was launched on december 15 and posed a simple question: “who would be your 2021 person of the year, and why?” it can be found here.  as of wednesday it was no longer live, launching conjecture from a number of sources that the fact author j.k. rowling was such a dominating choice the outlet had no option left other than to stop accepting nominations.  it still exists but comes with the caveat this form has been deactivated and is closed to any further submissions.  reactions online have been straight to the point.  jk rowling was voted guardian's person of the year. rather than acknowledge this, guardian killed the competition. what utter cowardice, guardian. — magdalen berns dr. hollydreamerxx🕸️ (@cubedreamer) december 28, 2021  breaking: guardian deactivated the poll on ‘person of the year 2021’ because jk rowling was in the lead. pathetic! — art takingback 🇺🇸 (@artvalley818_) december 28, 2021  it was you closing your poll for person of the year because all the votes were for @jk_rowling https://t.co/slikq4pdfh — ☃️❄️jane frost❄️☃️ (@52degreesn) december 28, 2021  can i just say congratulations to @jk_rowling on winning @guardian person of the year award 2021! #istandwithjkrowling — gordon (@bluesbroken) december 28, 2021  funniest thing i saw on the internet in 2021?  i'd say the guardian deactivating their "person of the year" survey because jk rowling was going to win. https://t.co/bllyexj1q1 — isaac de tormes, vii marqués de vichón (@isaac_de_tormes) december 28, 2021  congratulations to @jk_rowling for winning the @guardian person of the year award 2021. and congratulations to the guardian for being the spineless melts that they are for not publishing it! shameful! https://t.co/yus0qnrykh — belstaffie (@belstaffie) december 28, 2021  yes, congratulations @jk_rowling (from us 30 women) on your winning of @guardian’s person of the year. we love you! x well will it be formally announced? x — just us women, greater manchester (@wrnmanchester) december 28, 2021  harry potter author j.k. rowling, once beloved by leftists for her huge donations to the uk labour party and support of the european union, is no longer tolerated, given her strong views on a range of things guardian readers might assume to be theirs and their alone.  as breitbart news reported, last year she was targeted by trans activists for warning children believed to be “trans” should not necessarily be “shunted towards hormones and surgery.”  she was previously denounced as a “terf” — “trans exclusionary radical feminist” — for defending a woman’s right to decline to describe someone who is not biologically female as a woman.  daring to suggest biological sex differences retain a degree of significance regardless of “gender identity” has also drawn ire from the left.  jk rowling: gay people being ‘shunted towards hormones and surgery’ is ‘new kind of conversion therapy’ https://t.co/n2tfwqhcsr — breitbart london (@breitbartlondon) july 6, 2020  more recently she publicly scolded scottish police for documenting male rapists as “women.”  in a tweet she shared an article from the times highlighting the absurdity of the practice while reciting three slogans from george orwell’s 1984.  “war is peace. freedom is slavery. ignorance is strength. the penised individual who raped you is a woman,” tweeted rowling.  war is peace.  freedom is slavery.  ignorance is strength.  the penised individual who raped you is a woman.https://t.co/syxfnnbom1 — j.k. rowling (@jk_rowling) december 12, 2021  following her public stand on a host of issues and refusing to be silenced, rowling faced severe social media backlash, prompting harry potter stars daniel radcliffe, emma watson, rupert grint, and eddie redmayne to publicly declare their support for the trans movement.  actors ralph fiennes, who played voldemort, and robbie coltrane, who played hagrid, have both defended rowling and her right to hold a public opinion at variance of those on the left.
guardian 'person of the year' poll stopped after j.k. rowling takes lead