JK Rowling speaks out after Harry Potter director calls her trans views ‘sad’

Author JK Rowling has hit back at film director Chris Columbus after he labelled her views on the trans community “very sad” and “unfortunate”.

Columbus, who directed the first two films in Rowling’s Harry Potter series, said that while he liked to “separate the artist from the art”, what had happened was unfortunate. “I certainly don’t agree with what she’s talking about. It’s sad, very sad,” he added.

He has not spoken to the author for about 10 years so had “no idea what’s going on with her”.

Rowling, well-known for her gender-critical views, wrote on X/Twitter just days later: “As another man who once worked with me declares himself saddened by my beliefs on gender and sex, I thought it might be useful to compile a list for handy reference.

“Which of the following do you imagine makes actors and directors who aren’t involved with the [TV] reboot of Harry Potter so miserable? Is it my belief that women and girls should have their own public changing rooms and bathrooms?

“That women should retain female-only rape crisis centres? That men don’t belong in women’s sport? That female prisoners shouldn’t be incarcerated with violent men and male sex offenders?

“That women should remain a protected class in law because they have sex-specific needs and issues?

“That language should reflect reality rather than ideological jargon, especially in a medical context?

As another man who once worked with me declares himself saddened by my beliefs on gender and sex, I thought it might be useful to compile a list for handy reference. Which of the following do you imagine makes actors and directors who aren’t involved with the HBO reboot of Harry…

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 1, 2025

“That women shouldn’t be harassed, persecuted or fired for refusing to pretend humans can change sex? That women should not be threatened with violence and rape when they assert their rights? That freedom of speech and belief are essential to a pluralistic democratic society?

“That troubled minors, especially those who are gay, autistic and trauma-experienced, should be given mental-health support instead of irreversible surgeries and drug treatments on non-existent evidence of benefit?

“That gay people shouldn’t be pressured to include the opposite sex in their dating pools, [or] be smeared as ‘genital fetishists’ when they don’t?

“That cross-dressing heterosexual male fetishists aren’t actually oppressed but having the time of their lives piggybacking off gender-identity ideology?

“That said ideology, and the privileged, blinkered fools pushing it because they suffer zero consequences themselves, have done more damage to the political left’s credibility than Trump and Farage could have achieved in a century?

“Let me have your thoughts.”

A TV adaption of the Potter books is currently being filmed for HBO and will star, among others, John Lithgow, Nick Frost, Katherine Parkinson, and Warwick Davis – the first member of the film cast to return to the character on the small screen.

The series has faced criticism from those who fear it will endorse Rowling’s views, and Columbus has even questioned why it was being made.

Also known for his work on hit films Home Alone and Mrs Doubtfire, he has said: “Part of me was like, what’s the point? Part of me was like, OK, great. I thought everything was going to be different but it’s more of the same.

“I’ve always had issues with the idea of franchise after franchise. That’s why I never did th second Gremlins film. My attitude then was: I’ve done it, it’s time to move on and do something different. Same with Potter.”

In a different interview, he acknowledged that TV series would give show runners more scope to accurately adapt the books.

“The great thing about [the series] is that with the first, second and third books, we wanted to do it all. We wanted to bring all of that on to the screen, and we didn’t have the opportunity,” he said.

He has also thrown cold water on any reunion with the Harry Potter cast. “It’s gotten so complicated with all the political stuff,” he said. “Everyone has their own opinion, which is different from [Rowling’s] opinion, which makes it impossible.”