Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe makes rare comment on fallout with JK Rowling over her transgender views
Daniel Radcliffe is grateful for J.K. Rowling’s creation’s contribution to his career, but he has no intentions of bending over backwards for her in terms of his beliefs.
In a rare comment, the Harry Potter star addressed his fractured professional relationship with J.K. Rowling regarding transgender rights. Although grateful for her part in his Potter breakthrough success, Radcliffe addresses the heated crossfire as “really sad,” stating that he doesn’t owe what he believes to her for life.
In a chat with the Atlantic, the English actor, who has been nominated for Best Featured Actor in a Musical at the 2024 Tony Awards, talked about his ruptured ties with the Harry Potter author. Talking about her importance in his life, he emphasized that it “doesn’t mean that you owe the things you truly believe to someone else for your entire life.”
The British author has faced criticism since early June 2020, when she shared controversial tweets about her opinions on the transgender community. The escalating wildfire prompted heated responses from the main cast members of Rowling’s magnum opus film adaptation including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Eddie Redmayne.
Rowling, however, has taken an aggressive stance, saying, “The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women—i.e., to male violence—‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences—is a nonsense.”
Her tweet further reads: “I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it’s hateful to say so.”
