'Really sad': Daniel Radcliffe expresses disappointment over Rowling's transgender views
Daniel Radcliffe, renowned for his portrayal of Harry Potter, has publicly expressed disappointment over the series' author, JK Rowling's views on transgender issues. In a recent conversation with The Atlantic, Radcliffe candidly expressed his sadness regarding Rowling's ongoing critique of the transgender community. He also disclosed that he has not been in direct communication with the author since she began expressing her controversial opinions publicly.
Rowling's controversial stance on transgender rights
Rowling has frequently been in the news for voicing her opposition to trans rights. She recently commented on a British study conducted over four years that found no substantial evidence proving the safety of puberty-blocking treatments for transgender individuals in the long term. Rowling stated, "Celebs who cozied up to a movement intent on eroding women's hard-won rights...who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatized detransitioners...vulnerable women reliant on single-sex spaces."
Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint supported trans healthcare
Despite their differing views, Radcliffe continues to respect Rowling's literary work. Along with fellow Harry Potter stars Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, Radcliffe openly supports trans healthcare, a position that Rowling has publicly criticized. He said, "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's public support for trans community
In 2020, Radcliffe issued a statement in support of the trans community for the Trevor Project. He clarified, "I realize that certain press outlets will probably want to paint this as in-fighting between JK Rowling and myself, but that is really not what this is about, nor is it what's important right now," adding that "transgender women are women." He also apologized to fans who felt their experience of the Harry Potter books had been negatively impacted by Rowling's comments.
'I want to help people that had been negatively affected'
Further in the interview, Radcliffe explained his motivation behind publicly addressing Rowling's controversial comments. He emphasized, "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." "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."
