The author J.K. Rowling [Source: Getty]

Harry Potter author JK Rowling has called out Russian President Vladimir Putin for comparing recent criticism of her perceived transphobic comments with those being directed by pro-Russian composers and writers.

During a televised speech on Friday, Putin railed against so-called “cancel culture”, claiming Russian artists were being unfairly treated.

He alleged there was a “gradual discrimination against everything linked to Russia… in a number of Western countries”, but didn’t provide any examples.

A number of events involving Russian artists who have expressed support of the war with Ukraine have been cancelled, including concerts by the conductor Valery Gergiev, who is a friend and supporter of Putin.

The Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra was widely criticised for removing the dead Russian composer Tchaikovsky from its programme.

“The proverbial ‘cancel culture’ has become a cancellation of culture,” Putin said at the meeting with leading cultural figures, before going on to defend Rowling.

“JK Rowling was cancelled because she, a writer of books that have sold millions of copies around the world, didn’t please fans of so-called gender freedoms.”

Rowling, who denies the allegations of transphobia, responded by tweeting “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. #IStandWithUkraine.”

As part of the tweet, she shared a BBC article about the jailed Russian opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, who was recently sentenced to an extra nine years in prison after being found guilty of fraud.

Navalny, who survived being poisoned in 2020, has denied the charges.