Harry Knowles

On March 11, 2020, Knowles posted "AN APOLOGY" on the site, three years after the accusations that took him down, with lines such as "Even if I hugged someone from the height of a wheelchair and did not anticipate the big ass being where I thought a back would be. I regret it." The apology was considered by most to be insincere.

On September 21, 2017, days before allegations of sexual assault by Knowles surfaced, it was announced that AICN had been dropped as a sponsor of the festival. On September 25, 2017, the Alamo Drafthouse severed all business ties with Knowles.

On September 23, 2017, it was reported on IndieWire and circulated in other national media that Knowles had allegedly sexually assaulted a woman named Jasmine Baker on two occasions in 1999 and 2000 at Alamo Drafthouse events in Austin, and that when informed of the incidents by Baker, Drafthouse owners took no action. Knowles has since denied the allegations.

Following the release of the additional women's allegations, Knowles announced on social media on September 26, 2017, that he was taking a leave of absence from Ain't It Cool News.

He was played by Ethan Suplee in the 2009 movie Fanboys.

On April 4, 2008, Knowles announced that he was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic. In January 2011, Knowles underwent emergency spinal surgery to his T-10 vertebra. According to Knowles, the surgery restored sensation in his legs for the first time in over 15 years, and he would be undergoing physical therapy to learn to walk again.

Knowles married Patricia Cho Jones on July 15, 2007, at Green Pastures in Austin.

Additionally, Knowles is a co-founder of the annual Fantastic Fest, held in Austin. It was founded in 2005 by Knowles, Tim League of Alamo Drafthouse, Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, and Tim McCanlies, writer of The Iron Giant and Secondhand Lions. The festival focuses on genre films such as horror, science fiction, fantasy, action, Asian, and cult. The festival takes place in September at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar.

Because of the popularity of the website, Knowles was sought out by the mainstream media, including magazines, newspapers, and television news programs. In 2000, he was ranked No. 95 in the Forbes Celebrity 100. Knowles has made guest appearances on the television shows Siskel & Ebert & the Movies and Politically Incorrect.

In early 2000, Knowles posted materials stolen from an ABC staffer's home computer, which Knowles took at face value to be the Oscar nominees for the Academy Awards—a day before the official announcement. When the actual nominees were announced the following day, it was discovered that his finalists in almost every category were incorrect. Knowles acknowledged his error when it became clear he was wrong, but then disclosed the IP address of the person whose computer had been hacked, compounding the error. The Academy considered suing Knowles for trademark and copyright infringement, but ultimately decided against it.

From 1999 to 2016, on the weekend closest to his birthday (December 11), Knowles hosted an event called Butt-Numb-A-Thon. The event, also known as Geek Christmas, was a 24-hour celebration of film, featuring unofficial premieres, and vintage films, from classics reprinted for the big-screen, to the rare, weird and unheard of. Film fans and professionals alike traveled from all over the United States and the world to attend the event, which was hosted in Austin at the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse. BNAT was called "the world's most exclusive and mysteriously secretive film celebration" and "the hardest film event to get into in the country". Following revelations of sexual assault and harassment allegations against Knowles in September 2017, the Alamo Drafthouse, which had been the venue for the festival, ended all association with Knowles.

Knowles attends events offered to the press, paid for by the movie studios, including visits to movie sets and premieres. Questions have sometimes emerged about the resulting impartiality of his articles and reviews. For example, after being flown to the premiere of the 1998 Godzilla movie, he gave the movie a wildly positive review, while the vast majority of critics disliked the film. Knowles later reversed his position and panned the film after the ensuing outcry. Knowles and his defenders, however, have noted that he has given mixed reviews to movies for which he has been sent to junkets and premieres, and in any case is often out of step with mainstream critics. Knowles also gave a negative review to the film Monkeybone, in which he made a cameo appearance. In 1999, Knowles praised a script by Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan, but he did not mention that McWeeny was a contributor to the site (writing under the pseudonym "Moriarty"). This and other alleged lapses were reported in a series of articles in Film Threat magazine.

On January 24, 1996, Knowles tripped on a hose at a memorabilia show and partially paralyzed his legs. Then, "like the 12-year-old asthmatic Scorsese, or the wunderkind Coppola stricken with polio," he wrote. He realized his destiny was to become an internet movie journalist.

After purchasing a computer in 1994, Knowles started to navigate the Internet and began frequenting newsgroups to exchange gossip and rumors with other fans about upcoming films. After being chastised by future film critic Mike D'Angelo for posting binary image files to the newsgroups, Knowles launched the website that would become Ain't It Cool News in February 1996.

Harry Jay Knowles (born December 11, 1971) is a film critic and writer known for his website called Ain't It Cool News. Knowles was a member of the Austin Film Critics Association until he was removed in September 2017 "by a substantial majority vote" of the organization following allegations of sexual assault.

Harry Jay Knowles was born in Austin, Texas, the son of Jarrell Jay Knowles and Helen Jane (Harrison) Knowles, who married September 19, 1970, in Austin. His parents then settled in Austin. Knowles's parents separated in 1983 and divorced March 12, 1984; his mother received custody of him and his younger sister Dannie. The children subsequently lived with their mother on her family's ranch, the Portwood Ranch in Seymour, Texas. Knowles' other activities included the Boy Scouts of America, and he attained the rank of Eagle Scout.