Harry Potter author JK Rowling has indicated she will not forgive actors Emma Watson or Daniel Radcliffe for showing their support for trans rights.
Rowling's comments come after years of controversy surrounding the author, who has been accused of being transphobic in posts shared online.
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In June 2020, Rowling appeared to make light of efforts to be inclusive to the trans community as she shared a link to an article titled: “Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.”
Alongside the link, Rowling commented: “’People who menstruate’. I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
As Rowling was hit with backlash, Harry Potter stars Radcliffe and Watson both showed their support for the trans community.
Radcliffe apologized for 'the pain' Rowling's comments had caused and wrote an essay for LGBTQ+ organization The Trevor Project.
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Meanwhile, Watson told her trans followers that she and 'so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are'.
Rowling continued a discourse about the transgender community in a post shared on X yesterday (April 10), sharing a since-deleted tweet about the Cass Review, which examines gender services for young people in the UK, in particular the use of puberty blockers.
Rowling called paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass' report 'the most robust review of the medical evidence for transitioning children that's ever been conducted'.
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The author claimed the findings showed 'kids have been irreversibly harmed', adding: "Thousands are complicit, not just medics, but the celebrity mouthpieces, unquestioning media and cynical corporations."
In response to her post, one X user told Rowling: "Just waiting for Dan and Emma to give you a very public apology ... safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them ..."
However, Rowling responded to say the two actors she worked with for so many years were not 'safe' in that knowledge.
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"Not safe, I'm afraid," she wrote. "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."
Rowling has previously made clear she would not take back her decision to misgender transgender people, saying she would not 'delete posts calling a man a man'.
She also suggested she would 'happily' spend time in prison rather than referring to a transgender person by their preferred pronouns, saying: “I’ll happily do two years if the alternative is compelled speech and forced denial of the reality and importance of sex.”
When contacted by UNILAD, representatives for Rowling declined to comment.
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UNILAD has contacted representatives for Radcliffe and Watson for comment. It has also contacted the LGBT national hotline.
What the other Harry Potter stars have said about JK Rowling and her comments on the trans community
Rupert Grint
The Ron actor said in a statement in 2020: "I firmly stand with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers. Trans women are women. Trans men are men."
He added in an interview with the Times two years later: "I liken JK Rowling to an auntie. I don’t necessarily agree with everything my auntie says, but she’s still my auntie. It’s a tricky one."
Ralph Fiennes
The Voldemort actor told The New York Times in 2022: "The verbal abuse directed at her is disgusting, it’s appalling.
"I can understand a viewpoint that might be angry at what she says about women. But it’s not some obscene, uber-right-wing fascist. It’s just a woman saying, ‘I’m a woman and I feel I’m a woman and I want to be able to say that I’m a woman.’"
Harry Melling
Harry Melling in Harry Potter. (Warner Bros)
Melling, who played Dudley Dursley, told the Independent in 2022: "I can only speak for myself, and what I feel, to me, is very simple, which is that transgender women are women and transgender men are men."
Evanna Lynch
Lynch played Luna Lovegood in the films and told the Telegraph: "I just felt that her character has always been to advocate for the most vulnerable members of society. The problem is that there’s a disagreement over who’s the most vulnerable.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the LGBT national hotline at 888-843-4564, available Monday to Friday 4pm-12am ET and 12pm-5pm ET on Saturdays.
Topics: JK Rowling, Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, LGBTQ
Emily Brown