Daniel Radcliffe Has Shared Why It’s So Important To Speak Out Against JK’s Fked Transphobia

Daniel Radcliffe and jk rowling transphobia

Daniel Radcliffe, king of my heart, has spoken out on the importance of calling out JK Rowling‘s transphobia, even if she was responsible for the fame he enjoys today.

ICYMI, the Harry Potter star published an open letter in 2020 at the height of the JK Rowling transphobia culture where he maintained that “trans women are women”. He was the first cast member to challenge her bigotry publicly and it was a pretty big deal to fans at the time, who were feeling disenfranchised from the series.

Radcliffe told IndieWire in a new interview that he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself had he not stood up for trans kids.

“The reason I felt very, very much as though I needed to say something when I did was because, particularly since finishing Potter, I’ve met so many queer and trans kids and young people who had a huge amount of identification with Potter on that,” Radcliffe said.

“And so seeing them hurt on that day I was like, I wanted them to know that not everybody in the franchise felt that way. And that was really important.”

In the open letter, which was published by LGBT suicide prevention organisation The Trevor Project, Daniel Radcliffe wrote to fans that he hoped they didn’t lose what was important to them because of Rowling’s antics. Essentially, he wanted to assure them that other people who worked on the Harry Potter franchise didn’t hold her beliefs, so fans who relied on the series for comfort still could.

Radcliffe added that he couldn’t understand why some people didn’t stand up to Rowling and defend trans people’s rights.

“It was really important as I’ve worked with The Trevor Project for more than 10 years, and so I don’t think I would’ve been able to look myself in the mirror had I not said anything,” Radcliffe said.

“But it’s not mine to guess what’s going on in someone else’s head.”

His comments come just weeks after Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy, danced around the topic during a press tour for his new memoir.

When asked about JK Rowling, Felton maintained that she had been nothing but lovely to him and essentially endorsed her. While he said he was “pro-choice” and “pro-love”, he didn’t outright condemn her beliefs or publicly stand with trans people. Considering his closeness with Emma Watson (who played Hermione Granger) and her own strong stance in support of trans people, the silence was pretty deafening.

But hey, at least we have Daniel Radcliffe. Our unproblematic and genuinely wholesome king.

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