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Originally Posted by issybird
I wouldn't mind that as much, although it wouldn't count as canon for me. But apologizing for Lupin's death, for example, isn't responding to a question. It's pure attention-seeking and adds nothing to her fans' understanding or appreciation.
She doesn't get a redo on Hermione/Ron, either. Unless, of course, she publishes a book eight where we find out that it was all a dream for the 11-year old Harry sleeping in his closet under the stairs. I wouldn't put it past her.
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I'm sure that most of such pronouncements are in response to comments that she's received, even if we don't see those comments. It's pretty unlikely that it comes out of thin air. For example, Lupin's death has been complained about ever since book 7 came out. Rowling explained why she did it, not long after the book came out, as well as the rational for owl's death.
Same for the Ron and Hermione love interest. The books never really had any indication of that sort of attraction between Harry and Hermione, but tons of hints of the attraction between Ron and Hermione. The movies pretty much added the Harry and Hermione angle. The fans who obsessed with such things, for some reason, simply couldn't accept that Harry and Hermione didn't get together.
I think that to a great extent, her apologizes are simply her being gracious towards the fans who didn't like her choices in those regards. She does have a lot of fans who are obsessed by the subject. That happens with kids who are in the target audience of those books and seems to extend into the 20's for a lot of people.
What would you prefer her to do, be like Ellison and say screw you if you disagree with me? Author interactions with fans can be difficult. I'm sure that most authors are thinking "get a life" when they run into a fan who is that obsessed, but they can't really say it and still sell books.