Mr and Mrs Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were not at all transphobic, thank you very much. Their creator, J.K. Rowling, on the other hand, felt quite differently about the matter.
Once the perfect vessel for queer escapism, Harry Potter has taken on a life and a half since it was first released in 1998.
Never would anyone have imagined that a story about witchcraft, screaming plants and giant spiders would end up becoming a weapon on the battleground against trans lives. Folks of all ages who simply wanted to sort themselves into coloured houses and hang pictures of Draco Malfoy on their wall suddenly had to disassociate themselves from their favourite fantasy book because of the incessantly nasty words of its author.
It’s truly groundbreaking stuff in the literary world — an author at the peak of her career deciding to tarnish it all just to have a harmful opinion — and we’re gonna talk about how the cast of the Harry Potter movies has dealt with J.K. Rowling’s rampant disrespect for trans people, and the effects that agreeing or disagreeing with her has had on their careers.
First, let’s start with the grand high witch herself.
You can talk about J.K. Rowling’s history of transphobia at length (and many have), but it all started with this tweet:
Essentially, Rowling took offence to the use of inclusive language because she argued it erased her womanhood. On the other hand, trans people took offence because Rowling decided to dogpile against them with hurtful words, and the emotional burden of having to defend your rights against someone you once admired is just… fucking bullshit.
So which cast members from the Harry Potter movies decided to take the side of trans people and which decided to become Death Eaters? Let’s dive in.
Against J.K. Rowling
Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter)
The titular boy who lived is a fierce opponent of Voldemort J.K. Rowling and has stood up against her shit many times.
Daniel Radcliffe first slammed J.K. in an essay he posted on the Trevor Project website, a non-profit organisation that provides suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBTQIA+ people in need.
“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.”
Drag her, king.
He later reconfirmed his stance in a 2022 interview with IndieWire.
“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,” he said.
“I don’t think I would’ve been able to look myself in the mirror had I not said anything. But it’s not mine to guess what’s going on in someone else’s head.”
Emma Watson (Hermione Granger)
If Radcliffe is the king of anti-Rowling sentiments, Emma Watson would be the queen.
Together the actor duo have continually stuck it to the woman who basically gave them their entire careers. You have to admit that takes GUTS.
Watson also shaded Rowling at the 2022 BAFTA Awards by saying she was claiming the award in the name of ALL witches.
She really slayed for that.
Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley)
Rupert Grint has also been firmly against J.K. Rowling, albeit a bit more hesitant at times to completely slam her. He’s such a Ron.
“I firmly stand with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers,” he told Esquire.
“Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgment.”
When asked why he felt it was necessary to speak out against Rowling, his response was:
“I felt like I had to because I think it was important to.
“I mean, I don’t want to talk about all that… Generally, I’m not an authority on the subject.
“Just out of kindness, and just respecting people. I think it’s a valuable group that I think needs standing up for.”
It’s worth noting that while Grint stands firmly against Rowling, he has also made it clear he still respects her as an important figure in his life.
“I liken J.K. Rowling to an auntie,” he told The Times.
“I don’t necessarily agree with everything my auntie says, but she’s still my auntie. It’s a tricky one.”
I get where he’s coming from but he also could have just said nothing about supporting her still.
Katie Leung (Cho Chang)
Let it be known that J.K. Rowling made her first anti-trans tweet on June 6, 2020 and Katie Leung was FIRING off on June 7.
She was one of the first to stand up against Rowling, not only for her transphobia but also for her racism in naming one of the only Asian characters in HP “Cho Chang” and one of the only Black characters “Ramsay Shacklebolt”.
She did so in a thread of tweets which are now, unfortunately, deleted alongside her entire Twitter account.
At the end of the thread, Leung linked out to a bevy of charities including the Homeless Black Trans Women fund, UK Black Pride, a Change.org petition demanding more protection for Black trans women in the UK and even a VICE article that highlighted other charities that support trans people of colour.
I mean, Leung showed up and showed OUT.
Not only did she slam Rowling for racism and transphobia but she also made sure to highlight Black trans people, who are some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.
We simply must stan.
Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood)
It’s starting to feel like every protagonist from Harry Potter is also a supporter of trans rights. Maybe Rowling IS Voldemort.
“I’m so saddened to see trans people feeling abandoned by the HP community,” Evanna Lynch wrote to Twitter in June 2020.
In a follow-up tweet, however, Lynch said she still admired Rowling.
“I think it’s irresponsible to discuss such a delicate topic over Twitter through fragmented thoughts and I wish Jo wouldn’t.
“That said, as a friend and admirer of Jo I can’t forget what a generous and loving person she is.”
Unfortunately, Lynch no longer has a Twitter account, and thus the tweets have been lost to time forever.
In a 2022 interview with GBNews, Lynch made it clear she wasn’t the only one who hated Rowling’s opinions but still respected her as a person.
“I’ve talked to all the cast, they all have great respect for her even if they don’t agree with her beliefs,” she said.
“I really strongly disagree with the narrative that there’s a rift. She has her beliefs and she’s doing her thing.
“We all have strong beliefs and it’s been a very difficult conversation. I want there to be healing and I don’t want us to keep fighting.”
It is worth noting that these comments received a lot of positive feedback from TERFs at the time, who applauded Lynch for “not being consumed by the woke witch hunt”.
It feels wrong to put Lynch in the “on the fence” category though because she’s still vehemently pro-trans, which is automatically anti-Rowling.
Chris Rankin (Percy Weasley)
Nobody expected Chris Rankin to be one of the most staunch defenders of trans people from the Harry Potter cast, but here he is.
“I do a lot of work with charities that are LGBTQ+-focused and I raise money for the Albert Kennedy Trust on a regular basis,” he told the Eastern Daily Press.
“A lot of my family are members of the community. It is a huge part of my life and I think, by saying that, you can probably guess where my allegiances lie in that respect.
“What is important to highlight is that, when a trans person says they are male or female, that is what they are and that is how we should treat them.
“It is damaging to them to say otherwise.”
Pop off, king.
Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley)
Miss Bonnie Wright popped out of the Chamber of Secrets to tell Basilisk Rowling a thing or two about trans lives back in 2020 when shit hit the fan.
Really, she wasted no time in making her stance clear.
Come through, queen.
Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander)
Eddie Redmayne did us all a favour and reminded us that yes, he is indeed, technically, a part of the Harry Potter franchise.
“As someone who has worked with both J.K. Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand,” he said in a statement supplied to Variety.
“I disagree with Jo’s comments. Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid.
“I would never want to speak on behalf of the community but I do know that my dear transgender friends and colleagues are tired of this constant questioning of their identities, which all too often results in violence and abuse.
“They simply want to live their lives peacefully, and it’s time to let them do so.”
However, he also told The Daily Mail three months after this that the “vitriol” aimed at Rowling was “absolutely disgusting”. In the interview, he said he had sent Rowling a private note in the midst of all the hatred aimed at her.
He’s still in my good books though (by a thread), as he used his brief moment of defending Rowling to remind everyone that there “continues to be a hideous torrent of abuse towards trans people online and out in the world that is devastating” as well.
He clearly just likes peace — one of those “can we all just stop fighting?” types. How very Newt of him (I assume? I never watched the Fantastic Beast films).
Harry Melling (Dudley Dursey)
Leave your thoughts about Dudley at the door, ‘cos Harry Melling is on the good side of this argument (thankfully).
“I can only speak for myself, and what I feel, to me, is very simple, which is that transgender women are women and transgender men are men,” he told The Independent.
“Every single person has the right to choose who they are and to identify themselves as what’s true to themselves.
“I don’t want to join the debate of pointing fingers and saying, ‘That’s right, that’s wrong’, because I don’t think I’m the correct spokesperson for that. But I do believe that everybody has the right to choose.”
We stan a king with gorgeous opinions.
On the fence
Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy)
In an interview with The Telegraph, everyone’s favourite blonde daddy made it clear that he didn’t want to go against J.K. Rowling without having a conversation with her first.
Keep in mind this interview happened in 2022 and shit hit the fan in 2020. You had plenty of time to have that conversation with her, king.
“There’s a bunch of stuff about Jo… I don’t want to get drawn into the trans issues, talking about them, because it’s such an extraordinary minefield,” he said.
“One of the things that people should know about her too — not as a counter-argument — is that she has poured an enormous amount of her fortune into making the world a much better place, for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children through her charity Lumos.
“And that is unequivocally good. Many of us Harry Potter actors have worked for it, and seen on the ground the work that they do.
“So for all that she has said some very controversial things, I was not going to be jumping to stab her in the front — or back — without a conversation with her, which I’ve not managed to have yet.”
Clocks ticking, Slytherin. You better get to chatting before we put you in the TERF supporter basket.
Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy)
Of course the Malfoys are the only ones who are on the fence about this whole thing.
In an interview with The Times, Tom Felton didn’t want to slam J.K. Rowling for her beliefs but also didn’t outright support her. It’s giving Switzerland.
“I couldn’t speak for what others have said or what she said, to be completely honest, but I’m often reminded, attending Comic-Cons in particular, that no one has single-handedly done more for bringing joy to so many different generations and walks of life,” he said.
“I’m constantly reminded of her positive work in that field and as a person. I’ve only had a handful of meetings with her but she has always been lovely. So I’m very grateful for that.
“I’m pro. I’m pro-choice. I’m pro-life. I’m pro-discussion. I’m pro-love. I don’t tend to pick sides.”
Yeah king, but are you pro-trans???? What are you trying to say here?
“I won’t talk specifics but I enjoy reminding myself and others that a lot of my good friends have ways of life or personal decisions that I don’t necessarily agree with,” he continued.
I have no idea what any of this means and my feelings towards it are overwhelmed with confusion. And so, into the “on the fence” group Mr Felton goes.
In support of J.K. Rowling
Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid)
Hagrid should have just sat there and eaten his food instead of deciding to open his mouth and defend J.K. Rowling for no damn reason.
In a late 2020 interview with Radio Times (that is no longer available online but was seen by Pink News), Robbie Coltrane made it very clear that he is absolutely, without any shadow of a doubt, on #TeamJK.
“I don’t think what she said was offensive, really,” he said.
“I don’t know why, but there’s a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended. They wouldn’t have won the war, would they?”
I think we’re forgetting that this WHOLE thing started because ROWLING was the one offended by the use of the term “people who menstruate”.
“That’s me talking like a grumpy old man,” he continued.
“But you just think, ‘Oh, get over yourself. Wise up, stand up straight, and carry on.’ I don’t want to get involved in all of that because of all the hate mail and all that shit, which I don’t need at my time of life.”
Unfortunately “involved” is exactly what Coltrane became for the last two years of his life.
Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort)
Are we surprised that the man who played He Who Must Not Be Named supports She Who Must Not Be Named?
In a 2021 interview with The Telegraph Ralph Fiennes said he “can’t understand the vitriol directed” at J.K. Rowling.
“I can understand the heat of an argument, but I find this age of accusation and the need to condemn irrational.
“I find the level of hatred that people express about views that differ from theirs, and the violence of language toward others, disturbing.”
I don’t see how it’s a matter of views differing when a majority of the J.K. Rowling haters are trans people with an affinity for Harry Potter who feel as if one of their favourite writers is constantly on Twitter spewing vicious opinions about their existence.
What about Rowling’s hatred and violence of language???
To make matters worse, Fiennes doubled down on his comments in a 2022 interview with The New York Times.
“J.K. Rowling has written these great books about empowerment, about young children finding themselves as human beings. It’s about how you become a better, stronger, more morally-centred human being.
“The verbal abuse directed at her is disgusting, it’s appalling.”
Would love to see Ralph Fiennes do a live reading of J.K. Rowling’s tweets and see how he feels about what’s disgusting and what isn’t.
Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange)
It’s starting to feel like every villain from the Harry Potter series is actually a villain in the real world too.
In a 2022 interview with The Times, Helena Bonham Carter defended J.K. Rowling, saying she is entitled to her opinion.
“I think she has been hounded,” she said.
“It’s been taken to the extreme, the judgmentalism of people. She’s allowed her opinion, particularly if she’s suffered abuse.
“Everybody carries their own history of trauma and forms their opinions from that trauma, and you have to respect where people come from and their pain.
“You don’t all have to agree on everything — that would be insane and boring. She’s not meaning it aggressively, she’s just saying something out of her own experience.”
I get what Carter is trying to say here — that J.K. Rowling is a traumatised individual who is clinging to whatever remnant of her identity she can regardless of the consequences — but that doesn’t make her opinion valid or any less hurtful. In fact, Rowling is just hurting others from her own place of hurt and confusion. The darkest dredges of your isolated mind cannot possibly be the birthplace of great ideas, however, it is these ideas that have become all Rowling is known for these days.
Carter was also asked what she thinks about the young Harry Potter cast members flocking against Rowling.
“Personally I feel they should let her have her opinions, but I think they’re very aware of protecting their own fanbase and their generation.”
Weird that J.K. Rowling can have her opinions but the people against her shouldn’t argue them. Interesting.
Jim Broadbent (Horace Slughorn)
Isn’t it interesting that the older members of the Harry Potter cast are the most rigid in their thinking?
“I think J.K. Rowling is amazing,” Jim Broadbent told The Telegraph in April 2023.
“I haven’t had to confront [the backlash] myself, but I would support her in that, I think, if it came to it.”
No comment
Harry Potter stars who have refused to comment on the matter (or just haven’t been asked about it, thank God) include Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), Julie Walters (Molly Weasley), Michael Gambon (Dumbledore) and Dame Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall).
Ultimately, J.K. Rowling doesn’t give a fuck what anyone thinks about her, including her very own fans.
Rowling’s still tweeting about trans people to this day, still replying to comments from “women’s rights” activists (see: TERFs) and retweeting garbage from far-right individuals such as Australia’s own transphobic menace Katherine Deves.
She’s so caught up in a web of her own design, fighting “the good fight” that very few people actually care about. It isn’t hard to respect the existence of trans people. Actively fighting against their wellbeing can’t be seen as anything other than destructive and harmful.
