JK Rowling won’t forgive Harry Potter stars for supporting trans people

JK Rowling has said that she won’t forgive Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson over their support of trans people. The Harry Potter stars — who both have successful careers beyond the film series and have long distanced themselves from the author — very much did not ask.

Following the release of “TERF Wars,” Rowling’s extended anti-trans essay, both Radcliffe and Watson made public statements in support of trans rights. Radcliffe published a blog article through The Trevor Project in direct response to Rowling’s comments.

“Transgender women are women,” Radcliffe wrote. “Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”

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Watson likewise affirmed the experiences and identities of trans people, saying they “deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”

Other Harry Potter stars who have backed the trans community include Rupert Grint, Bonnie Wright, and Harry Melling.

Years later, these public disavowals seem to remain a sore spot for Rowling. In response to the release of the Cass Report, an NHS sponsored review of trans youth healthcare that has recommended “extreme caution” in administering puberty blockers, Rowling entertained the idea that Radcliffe and Watson might one day apologize to her.

Like many ‘gender critical’ activists in the UK, Rowling is already treating the report like some kind of bombshell. “I read Cass this morning and my anger’s been mounting all day,” she posted on X/Twitter. “Kids have been irreversibly harmed, and thousands are complicit, not just medics, but the celebrity mouthpieces, unquestioning media and cynical corporations.”

A follower suggested that, in light of the report, Radcliffe and Watson should give a “very public apology, safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them.”

“Not safe, I’m afraid,” Rowling responded. “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.”

Again, neither of them have even hinted that they’ll apologize for supporting a marginalized community. But at least there’s nothing even remotely sad about Rowling dreaming of the day she’ll refuse those apologies.