Following J.K. Rowling’s controversial stance on the transgender community, fans worldwide experienced a loss of enthusiasm and support for the author of their beloved childhood books and stories “Harry Potter.” Similarly, cast members from the movie adaptations expressed disappointment and disapproval of Rowling’s views, mirroring the position of her fan base.
Among those familiar faces of the crew stands out—none other than Daniel Radcliffe, the central face of the groundbreaking movie franchise portraying Harry Potter himself.
After discussing his current Broadway production in “Merrily We Roll Along,” Radcliffe addressed his experiences during Harry Potter and took the opportunity to comment on J.K. Rowling’s stance regarding transgender issues. He expressed his great disappointment about the views held by the author of one of the world’s most famous and beloved book series.
“It makes me really sad, ultimately, I do look at the person that I met, the times that we met, and the books that she wrote, and the world that she created, and all of that is to me so deeply empathic.” Radcliffe had stated.
The actor further revealed that he has had no communication with Rowling since her controversial tweet in 2020. During this period, Radcliffe released a statement through The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ charity with which he has longstanding ties, affirming that “transgender women are women too.”
“I’d worked with the Trevor Project for 12 years and it would have seemed like, I don’t know, immense cowardice to me to not say something,” Radcliffe detailed in the interview, “I wanted to try and help people that had been negatively affected by the comments. And to say that if those are Jo’s views, then they are not the views of everybody associated with the Potter franchise.”
While Radcliffe acknowledges that his entire career owes much to Rowling, and Harry Potter would not even exist if it weren’t for her, “nothing in my life would have probably happened the way it is without that person. But that doesn’t mean that you owe the things you truly believe to someone else for your entire life.” Radcliffe said.
However despite this reasoning, he recognizes that her beliefs do not necessarily align with his own, nor with those of his fellow co-stars, he expressed “that doesn’t mean that you owe the things you truly believe to someone else for your entire life.”
Emma Watson, among others, responded to Rowling’s tweet. Rowling’s reaction to this movement was far from favorable; she later responded with, “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.”
Even after this exchange, Radcliffe remained steadfast in his convictions and responded to the author’s tweet by stating, “I will continue to support the rights of all LGBTQ people, and have no further comment than that.”
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