Star Wars’ Mark Hamill offers swift and sincere apology for liking JK Rowling’s ‘transphobic’ tweet
Mark Hamill said he did not initially understand the negative connotations of the tweet (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/Getty)
Star Wars‘ actor Mark Hamill has issued a sincere apology for liking a ‘transphobic’ tweet from J.K. Rowling after a fan contacted him seeking an explanation.
Yesterday, Harry Potter author Rowling voiced her support for a woman who pursued legal action to have “gender-critical views” protected under the UK Equalities Act.
Judge James Tayler ruled that anti-trans or gender critical views are not a protected characteristic, adding that such views are “not worthy of respect in a democratic society” and that they conflict with the fundamental human rights of others.
After the ruling was announced, Rowling tweeted: “Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill.”
Hamill, who plays the character of Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise, initially ‘liked’ Rowling’s tweet despite previously expressing his support for the transgender community.
Seeing this, Twitter user @artinventcr messaged Hamill directly to ask why he appeared to back Rowling.
Hamill promptly ‘unliked’ the tweet and replied: “I fully support my LGBT family and had no idea the tweet had any negative connotations against them.”
I saw people talking about mark hamill liking jk rowling’s tweet so I DMed him (he DMed me back in 2016 so that’s how I was able to) to inform him about it and he deadass responded pic.twitter.com/DtTykgJWnz
— jess (@artinventcr) December 20, 2019
He then went further by tweeting an apology to all his followers, explaining that he had not clearly understood the author’s message.
“Ignorance is no excuse, but I liked the tweet without understanding what the last line or hashtags meant,” he wrote. “It was the first four lines I liked and I didn’t realise it had any transphobic connotation.”
Ignorance is no excuse, but I liked the tweet without understanding what the last line or hashtags meant. It was the 1st 4 lines I liked & I didn’t realize it had any transphobic connotation. https://t.co/vefcuZEQF9
— Mark HoHoHoHamill (@HamillHimself) December 20, 2019
Several fans thanked Hamill for apologising and shedding light on his views.
@eloraedwards wrote: “Oh thank goodness. I JUST saw Rise Of Skywalker and I was afraid for a moment when twitter was abuzz after I got out of the theatre that you’d turned to the dark side.”
