JK Rowling Hits Out At Harry Potter Stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson For Supporting Trans Rights

Amid renewed controversy surrounding transgender rights, author J.K. Rowling has once again found herself at the center of a heated debate. This time, her targets are none other than the stars of the Harry Potter franchise, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson.

Rowling's response to NHS Gender Care Report

JK Rowling's latest comments come in response to a recent report commissioned by the NHS, which critiqued the standards of care for gender-variant youth. The report, obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, highlighted significant concerns about the lack of evidence supporting current gender care treatments, including puberty blockers. Dr. Hilary Cass, who led the review, emphasised the need for more research into the long-term effects of such interventions.

Reacting to the report, JK Rowling, in a series of tweets, wrote, “Over the last four years, Hilary Cass has conducted the most robust review of the medical evidence for transitioning children that's ever been conducted. Mere hours after it was released to the press and public, committed ideologues are doubling down. 1/6”

“These are people who've deemed opponents 'far-right' for wanting to know there are proper checks and balances in place before autistic, gay and abused kids - groups that are all overrepresented at gender clinics - are left sterilised, inorgasmic, lifelong patients. 2/6”

“I understand that the review's conclusions will have come as a seismic shock to those who've hounded and demonised whistleblowers and smeared opponents as bigots and transphobes, but trying to discredit Hilary Cass's work isn't merely misguided. It's actively malign. 3/6”

She further wrote, “Even if you don't feel ashamed of cheerleading for what now looks like severe medical malpractice, even if you don't want to accept that you might have been wrong, where's your sense of self-preservation? The bandwagon you hopped on so gladly is hurtling towards a cliff. 4/6.”

JK Rowling said she is angry. “And if I sound angry, it's because I'm bloody angry. 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. 5/6”

“The consequences of this scandal will play out for decades. You cheered it on. You did all you could to impede and misrepresent research. You tried to bully people out of their jobs for opposing you. Young people have been experimented on, left infertile and in pain. 6/6”

She concluded her tweet series with: “I thought the last tweet was going to be my last, but I just burst into tears. The #CassReview may be a watershed moment, but it comes too late for detransitioners who've written me heartbreaking letters of regret. Today's not a triumph, it's the laying bare of a tragedy. 7/7”

Replying to her tweet thread, an X user by the name Adam Harris wrote, “Just waiting for Dan and Emma to give you a very public apology ... safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them.”

JK Rowling was quick to respond to Adam's tweet. She wrote, “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.”

JK Rowling's stance on transgenders

JK Rowling's stance reflects her long-standing opposition to certain aspects of the trans rights movement, which has garnered both praise and criticism in equal measure. Her comments reignite a rift that emerged in 2020 when Radcliffe and Watson publicly voiced their support for transgender individuals.

Radcliffe asserted that "transgender women are women," while Watson affirmed that "trans people are who they say they are." Their statements clashed with Rowling's views, sparking debate within the Harry Potter fan community and beyond.The controversy surrounding Rowling's stance on transgender issues has also impacted her relationship with Warner Bros., the studio behind the Harry Potter film franchise. Despite plans for a reboot of the saga as a TV series, Rowling's outspoken opinions have cast a shadow over the otherwise lucrative partnership, ANI reported.