Daniel Radcliffe has dedicated the better part of the last decade to supporting trans youth, and his commitment to being on the right side of history has not been lost on proud TERF JK Rowling. Despite her repeated jabs and barbs, he has remained largely silent about his relationship (or lack of) with the disgraced author — until now.
Earlier this month, a bombshell review into gender identity services in the UK found that gender care was “built on shaky foundations”. The finding left JK Rowling not only crowing victory, but also tweeting thinly veiled snipes at the Harry Potter stars who stood by the trans community during her tirades.
Speaking to The Atlantic, Radcliffe said it’s ultimately quite “sad” that JK Rowling has such harmful views on trans people, because many would have grown up finding solace in the Harry Potter series‘ themes of hidden identities and, well, literally being locked in a closet.
“It makes me really sad, ultimately, because 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,” he said.
That being said, he stood by the statement he issued through LGBTQIA+ suicide-prevention group the Trevor Project in 2020, which affirmed “transgender women are women” and called out Rowling.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
He added: “I did have a realisation of a connection to Harry Potter and this stuff. A lot of people found some solace in those books and films who were dealing with feeling closeted or rejected by their family or living with a secret.”
Fellow Harry Potter stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have also challenged JK Rowling’s transphobia, and Radcliffe restated in 2022 the importance of calling out JK Rowling’s transphobia. The golden trio have been subject to much ire and contempt from the conservative British public since.
“There’s a version of ‘Are these three kids ungrateful brats?’ that people have always wanted to write, and they were finally able to,” Radcliffe said.
“So, good for them, I guess … Obviously Harry Potter would not have happened without [Rowling], so 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.”
Pop off, king!
Daniel Radcliffe said that he “will continue to support the rights of all LGBTQ people”, and that’s that.
Now that’s my Chosen One.
