The relationship between Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe & Emma Watson and the author JK Rowling is sweet anymore. It’s a long story and yet again Rowling spoke against the two stars over the transgender identity and rights issue.
JK Rowling “Won’t Forgive” Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe
JK Rowling in an interview. Image Credit: Screengrab/misshef/YouTube
The longstanding war of words between JK Rowling and her former Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson has reignited again as the author reaffirmed her stance that any celebrity who has spoken out supporting transgender people including Radcliffe and Watson can “save their apologies.”
When one X/Twitter commenter, whose account name includes the phrase “FarRightHooligan”, asked Rowling: “Just waiting for Dan and Emma to give you a very public apology … safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them.”
Rowling replied: “Not safe, I’m afraid. 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.”
In June 2020, Rowling publicly posted an essay criticizing transgender rights, “I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode ‘woman’ as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it.” (Via PEOPLE)
It quickly sparked controversy around the world and then Radcliffe came in support of trans women in a short essay for the Trevor Project. Watson, who played Hermione Granger also indirectly took a dig at Rowling’s comment saying that she has the respect and love for them for who they are.
How Did the JK Rowling and Harry Potter‘s Stars Row Start?
Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010). Image Credit: Warner Bros.
The controversy dates back to 2020 when JK Rowling commented about the trans community. The writer took issue with a headline for an opinion article, which read, “Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.”
“‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people,” Rowling tweeted. “Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?“
Rowling posted an additional series of tweets later trying to defend her lines:
“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased,” she wrote.
“I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth,” Rowling tweeted.
“The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women — ie, to male violence — ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences — is a nonsense.”
As she tried to define a woman as a person, she faced a huge backlash. Later, in a new interview with Indiewire, Radcliffe said Rowling’s comment does not reflect the franchise’s overall view on trans people.
