Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie On J.K. Rowling, 'Cancel Culture' and Beyonce | Emma Barnett Meets

Emma Barnett meets award-winning writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to discuss freedom of speech, "cancel culture" and why she defended J.K. Rowling against accusations of transphobia, as well as how teaming up with Beyonce promoted feminism. Interview recorded on Nov 1, 2022.
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[@mayaramexicana]

I got to know Chimamanda through Beyoncé, but then I went to search the speach, and then I read the book. And when I was going through grief, i found out about her book Notes of grief, and really spoke to me because I also lost my father. And now I'm reading Purple Hibiscus and loving it. I think she is a incredible author.

[@ndo533]

Her words and wisdom are stated in such plain logical terms that it makes you go "well, of course that's true!" Even though you never really thought of it that way. She leans into the hidden cracks of truth and exposes its layers, telling her story exactly as it is

[@screenshotofwords7839]

I love how calmly paced this interview is. Chimamanda has such an inviting authority.

[@gretagaret3904]

Totally! She is such a Virgo!!

[@buki3267]

This is feminism at it’s best. Two intelligent, intellectual women from completely different backgrounds having an intriguing chat. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@florianrosenthal909]

And not one moment where the felt the need to bash men... like that other type feminism.

[@urbnctrl]

So, not feminism, but Matriarchial?

[@user-ev1cu3vq2u]

Has nothing to do with feminism. Its two women gaving a conversation about life.

[@lusiamei8518]

her eyes are so captivating. she is brilliant

[@AthenaKadiata]

I love how this interview started with Chimamanda being very emotional about her grief or her parents, and ended with her and Emma Barnett lauging together.

[@harrisojoiyinbor6719]

Chimamanda, we Nigerians are very proud of you. Keep shinning my baby sister and God bless.

[@kelechiudoh]

Emma Barnett is a fantastic interviewer. Love Chimamanda.

[@klt9874]

Love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Read her books and then when my mom and grandmother died seven months apart in 2021, I read her book on grief. She is amazing!

[@cesarrabe4466]

...this is my first time to watch and listen about this writer, Chimamanda...a woman of substance and intellect

[@i.i1215]

I hope chimamanda sticks to her original views that yes trans women can identify as women but we shouldn’t pretend the experience of a biological woman is the exactly same as a trans woman especially those that transitioned later in life. As a woman I think it’s a disservice to both to pretend the experience is the same. ❤

[@jujutrini8412]

I said almost this exact thing and got called a terf and was suspended off twitter.😂

[@Gnomereginam]

I still can't agree with the fearmongering over bathrooms... I don't believe in the pointless outrage against Rowling but the whole conversation about transinclusive spaces contains so many assumptions and leaps in logic that could be remedied with the widening of one's own worldview.

[@Browny241422]

@@jujutrini8412 They're trying to silence you

[@jujutrini8412]

@@Browny241422 I know. If you are a woman and don’t like misogyny now you are a terf according to some. I don’t let it bother me.

[@moif_velocita]

I am an intersex trans woman, and I can confidently say that I have never yet met any trans person who said that the experience of being a trans woman or trans man is the same as that of a cis woman or cis man. This is a dog whistle argument, based on cherry picked examples from dubious sources and used to generate a sense of manufactured outrage

[@lifeasanexperiment]

I agree with her on so many points here. We need more people like her in this world. Love and sympathy, from South Korea.

[@ceciliaseembernaze3970]

Chimamanda seems so vulnerable in this interview

[@philiplewis8213]

What a wonderful person! We need more people like her.

[@Tokoa144]

What a great conversation.. I enjoyed listening to this very interesting writer whom I know very little about but will seek more of.. An the interviewer conducted the conversation so well with the kind of fluency of long time friends..

[@ndo533]

Like 2 lifelong professional cohorts really . A great job

[@Enchristed]

Emma Barney is creatively witty. Thanks chimamanda. It’s not surprising how intelligent you are. I really enjoyed this interview 😊😊😊

[@freddylowe4900]

I love this interview! These are two such classy women. (The J.K. Rowling part is at 13:00.)

[@rosedowns7472]

Thank you!!

[@wonodiprecious6364]

Thank you 😊

[@_derekbuchi]

So why can’t all conversations go like this?😭😭😭

[@kairosregal]

It was today I found that I disagreed with Chimamanda on certain issues and I also found that it did not lessen the respect I have for her

[@bomanimi7318]

I love Chimamanda's calmness. Rowling is a great interviewer.

[@somy.lumina]

Can't get tired of listening to her❤

[@successndubuisi3328]

She is so calm and eloquent

[@christieatuh]

That both parents died back to back showed how in love they were.

[@huguesk7143]

I only watched because of Chimamanda, she is so great that you can not be not inspired by her.

[@adrianogomes1871]

What a beautiful conversation! Really inspiring. I love hearing knowledgeable people speaking, regardless of their views on certain matters. They are always reasonable.

[@stdsobresaliente288]

Thank you for uploading

[@foreverthandomnguni]

This interview is comforting. 🎉❤

[@Morrisnonye]

She is indeed a force and an inspiration to the younger generation 👏🇳🇬

[@ayo30s]

Great Interview/Interaction, 👊🏾🇳🇬🇺🇸

[@yakototruth]

Brilliant Interview!!!!!!!

[@elvisyarda1062]

That was a good interview!

[@birchstudio2900]

What a woman. Honestly amazing woman.

[@dra2033]

I ❤ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie .. I'm still so baffled by the whole JK Rowling situation. She literally NOTHING remotely controversial.

[@alexandrareuter327]

If you are genuinely interested, Natalie Wynn of the KZbin channel Contrapoints has created an excellent video essay about Rowling's transphobia. It's a very nuanced approach and she is genuinely trying to understand where both sides are coming from. It helped me understand the situation a lot better. I highly recommend it. It's called 'J.K. Rowling'.

[@ssp4795]

@@alexandrareuter327 "transphobia" is such a BS term though. JK Rowling was standing up for women, in a world where men are putting on woman face and entering our spaces, demanding they be celebrated. and I watched the most recent vid, cos every now and then I enjoy Contrapoints, she is wickedly clever, but does she actually share any actual transphobic info or does she choose to twist the comments? JoRo is standing up for women, and somehow that is transphobic? surely then, logically, you standing up for trans rights makes you cisphobic? which means: you hate cis people.

[@MunguMbele]

I agree!@@ssp4795 I'm so glad many women are speaking out. It's hugely important. I hope we go back to having global conversations about women, equality for everyone and the challenges facing us. Surreal this has to be said.

[@ca8rio8ca]

Great interview

[@gideonakpelu5102]

Brilliant interview.

[@brendahattie6553]

Great interview. Well done, Emma.

[@luizalouyoga]

Brilliant woman! And a great interviewer!

[@MarttiSuomivuori]

Chimamanda writes good books. I strongly recommend reading her books.

[@gayjustgay5432]

She is fantastic!

[@ikechukwuluis-bruce2908]

beauty+Intellect = Chimamanda

[@i.i1215]

Love her. Hope to meet her one day in the U.K. or nigeria

[@mbiti]

when I was reading your book Zikora, I felt like there was some aspect of you saying somethings that were quite personal. Like the doctor assuming that the pain was normal when he has never experienced labor pains, so was to the other things you have talked about. And I think all this things you have said and written are almost always happening to someone. They say curse words forget and repeat. I am becoming ... your ardent reader.

[@bernie1740]

Thanks Ms. Chichimanda for standing up to your beliefs

[@annehurry9623]

I love you Chimamanda ❤

[@clariceriley489]

Good bless these women for on their truth!,,,,BEING strong , BLESS their cause ,heart and spirit

[@erikaaaaa2882]

I really love chimamanda

[@maureenoge548]

Chief Chimanda Adichie is a great orator, knowledgeable and brilliant. She's right thinking 💕

[@theclauzozie9826]

I love this woman❤️

[@vice.nor.virtue]

I'm 3 minutes in and my eyes are already leaking.

[@chukwuebukaohamuche6972]

The way she hummed 'hmmmm' when she didn't want to give out information on what she's working on lol😂

[@miracleelvis8446]

I love her response in 04:00

[@stdsobresaliente288]

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ❤

[@yasminowen4817]

Why not refer to her just as an author rather than a Nigerian author?

[@bubbleofpeace]

We claim her and very proud of her.

[@SalemFU]

4:40 : 'a hit dog will holler' - just an old piece of Appalachian wisdom

[@soaribb32]

Me, i believe in standing with women in all of their different types.

[@1northsparrow246]

In an odd way, it is reassuring to know that even a luminary like Chimamanda does not always get a response to her letters to authority figures.

[@swankyangelo]

Why? That’s really weird of you. You only get inspired by her demise?

[@Fumsymoon]

This comment is so cringeworthy. Why is it reassuring for you that her letters seeking redress were ignored? Why are you reassured by a reminder of failed systems? Just why?

[@jeromelubabalojacobs8872]

I come here to remind myself she's right and right.

[@thedingo8833]

For some of us………… the parental loss has permanent catastrophic/ place of no return

[@cienciapolitica7027]

Using the issue of equality between the sexes to justify abortion is leaving aside the right itself. Because it turns out that men do not make babies to begin with (attached to biological reality), therefore, creating an equal right over something that reality prevents from being equal has flaws, saying that women are not equal because they cannot abort. It is not seeing that simply in this aspect equalization is impossible when men cannot abort, the closest one could come is that it would be applicable for men that if women request an abortion then men can decide to free themselves from responsibility for upbringing, for the same reason that equality before the law has a minimum exception, which is positive discrimination that only benefits women in most cases. Aspects of pregnancy.

[@PaulWilson-ts7ip]

HELLOWURLD...!!!

[@ndo533]

"Youre either lying or youre a narcissist" 😂😂

[@afroriginalvoice9419]

What Chimamanda must understand is that we in comparison to the western world are living in two separate"time zones" within the same space in respect not of detachement from the larger world but understanding that the ideas of social contructs outdates the period its popularized in a "set" global space.

[@asanwa3126]

...what?!!

[@asaasare220]

What you have to understand is that she has her own perfectly “humble” opinion… mind you you too are entitled to one and guess what it’s free

[@baeX900]

What a word salad. 🤣

[@Prof.SeverusSnape]

What a long sentence to say so little. I suppose it reflects the mind of the one that wrote it into existence. People are truly overrated.

[@cienciapolitica7027]

The problem is that when we talk about the right to abortion, we start from quite big fallacies, such as saying that the fetus is part of a woman's body. The enormous difficulty begins with trying to explain how the same human being can have two different genomes.

[@colinrichardson9829]

VOTE REFORM UK

[@michkr144]

She's 46 but she looks 26!

[@patricktata1265]

Level-headed conversation except the elision or mix-up about the need for flag bearers of opinions on morality. A world without religious prescription is open to the schemes and caprices of those who ruthlessly and even sacrilegiously pull the strings of power.

[@christieatuh]

Wonderful Chimamanda and classy Emma. But I never get all these trans and non-binary yeyeness

[@aritragupta161]

Since Renaissance religion has been forced out of public life, and into the domain of the individual. But religion is inherently collective in nature. If a religious person opposes abortion, or gay marriage, it's not just a position or a value that she takes vis-a-vis her own life. It's a value that she want's society to adopt. She would then push for policies aligned to her value system. A man opposing abortion for religious reason, or a straight person opposing gay marriage for the same reason would be useless positions to take if religion is simply an individual choice. Society's drive towards secularizing public life by limiting religion's sphere of influence within the confine of individuals inevitably creates a conflict as the very assumption that religion is an individual choice is problematic.

[@ludmilla1332]

Democracy demands separation of church & state. I am not able to impose my religious beliefs onto anyone else, rightfully so.

[@Romana6794]

Religion is an individual choice. Each individual has the freedom to practice and believe the religion of their choice. And yes obviously, when a religious group loses hegemony over a particular society it becomes relegated to the private realm of religious practice amongst religious communities within broader society. Religious individuals have to understand that though they believe that what they believe should be imposed upon all of society regardless of what anyone else thinks, wants or has to say about it... The inability to enforce upon the entire public sphere their holy doctrine is something they just have to accept.

[@sosonolow5094]

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has challenged white people to educate themselves on their racist past. She refuses to allow them to be dismissive of racial issues which they cannot understand due to their privilege. And yet here she sits, years after making these comments about trans women, saying things like "anyone who is trying to ask you more about (what you said) is just trying to stoke outrage and make it more of a thing, which was never my intention" Talk about lack of self-awareness!

[@Renteks-]

Yup. Very ironic as someone who campaigns against how we put people into boxes and don't engage with them past that to do exactly that.

[@gazelafrica9356]

These are two different issues .......and as an African she answered perfectly to even think about race and trans issues have a different impact on the world at large and trying make people talk about the gender issues is funny to me........we are living in a sad time

[@ldd5401]

Marlene Headley

[@FHIPrincePeter]

This woman is the real deal on many levels. Intellectually, Culturally, Beauty and Role model. Marlene Headley is nothing less than a race baiter.

[@maxga13]

she is a great african

[@bensinbeylarus]

Chief Odeluwa

[@choicendoro7937]

Chimamanda is lost

[@ludmilla1332]

Yes, a trans woman is a woman. ❤

[@haret0n]

nope. men stay men no matter how they dress or how they disfigure their bodies. there is no such thing as transition.

[@aldoe2975]

transwomen are transwomen

[@sosonolow5094]

Yes, yes, yes! And we need to keep saying it!

[@gazelafrica9356]

No they're not And please stop saying that This sets us as women back 200 years ago......as a woman am scared if we start thinking that way

[@GAMS759]

Nope. Transwomen are not women. We cannot pretend these things into real time. The evidences are out, brutalizing your bodies and blocking your homones doesn't change the anatomy. If there is one thing to take out from this pep talk with Amanda is 'Because something is popular doesn't make it true'.

[@honeybunch6473]

Who cares what she thinks 🙄

[@chidi3180]

I do 🤣🤣🤣

[@gazelafrica9356]

I do🥰

[@thezu9250]

No one is forcing you to watch this. Clearly no one cares about your opinion so you’re just projecting it onto an award-winning best selling author.

[@moif_velocita]

It is interesting how JK Rowling can constantly and openly attack trans people, and yet the discourse in the anglosphere is all about defending her. As if JK Rowling was the one being attacked solely for who she is

[@natasha.elaine]

That’s interesting because the only people being attacked are cisgender women. Transgender women and their allies are fighting to be included in spaces for women and yet, they love to cancel, attack and shut down cisgender women for having opinions, questions and concerns. 🤔 The irony would be comical if the reality weren’t so frightening.

[@blairsantillana]

She doesn’t attack trans people, she states her opinion and she should be able to do that freely.

[@moif_velocita]

@@blairsantillana And who is stopping her?

[@gazelafrica9356]

@@moif_velocita the people stop her are the ones bashing her and that's the problem......

[@moif_velocita]

@@gazelafrica9356 No one is stopping her