JK Rowling ‘won’t forgive’ Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson for trans rights support
Many of the stars of the Harry Potter films have addressed the controversy around JK Rowling. (Getty)
JK Rowling has suggested she won’t ‘forgive’ Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson after both publicly expressed support for trans people.
Radcliffe and Watson spoke out against Rowling, and in favour of trans equality, after the author published a lengthy essay, “TERF Wars”, in June 2020, in which she outlined her “concerns” about trans rights.
Following the essay and a series of tweets in which Rowling said it “isn’t hate to speak the truth” about trans people, Radcliffe – who played the young wizard in all eight Harry Potter films – responded with a blog post for LGBTQ+ charity The Trevor Project.
In it, he declared his support for the trans community, affirmed that “trans women are women” and apologised for the “pain” caused by Rowling’s comments.
Similarly, Watson – who played Harry’s pal Hermione Granger – wrote on social media that “trans people are who they say they are” and that they “deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are”.
Now, Rowling has directly responded to the criticism, suggesting she won’t forgive the pair, even if they were to apologise and reverse their stance.
During a lengthy thread on X/Twitter yesterday (10 April), Rowling wrote that she was “bloody angry” following the release of the Cass report, which made a series of recommendations in relation to restructuring the way trans youth receive healthcare in the UK.
“I read Cass this morning and my anger’s been mounting all day. Kids have been irreversibly harmed, and thousands are complicit, not just medics, but the celebrity mouthpieces, unquestioning media and cynical corporations,” she claimed.
After one follower demanded Radcliffe and Watson give her a “very public apology, safe in the knowledge that [Rowling] will forgive them,” the author responded: “Not safe, I’m afraid.”
She went on to say: “Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single-sex spaces.”
While the Cass report suggested that the number of people who detransition remains unknown, a recent study suggested that just one per cent of trans teenagers in Australia ended up detransitioning after starting medical transition.
Rowling’s comments in relation to Cass come just days after she slammed the introduction of Scotland’s new anti-hate crime legislation.
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 came into effect on 1 April, and works to consolidate existing hate crime laws in the devolved nation.
It includes a new offence of inciting hatred against people based on protected characteristics, including age, disability, religion, sexual orientation and trans identity.
Rowling labelled the legislation “ludicrous” after she was advised to delete posts on social media in which she had intentionally misgendered several transgender women.
Previously, she has stated that she would rather spend time in prison than refer to a trans person using their preferred pronoun.
Other Harry Potter stars to speak out in support of trans people include Rupert Grint – Ron Weasley in the hit films – who “firmly stands with the trans community”, and his on-screen sister Bonnie Wright, who said in 2020: “Trans women are women. I see and love you.”
