“HBO’s Controversial Support for J.K. Rowling Ignites Fury on Transgender Day of Remembrance: What’s Behind the Backlash?”
The protagonists of the Harry Potter movies, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Wattson, have been at the forefront of criticism towards the author
Image credits: sbstryker
Criticism towards Rowling has not been limited only to the fans of The Wizarding World but also to its protagonists. Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe have been outspoken in the past about their conflicting views towards the author, with the latter stating that her remarks make him “really sad.”
Rowling, on the other hand, wrote a tweet on April 10, 2024, mentioning the Harry Potter alums as part of several “celebs who cozied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors.”
Her statement is in accordance with the values of a movement called Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminism (TERF), which refers to individuals or groups within feminism who exclude transgender women from their definition of womanhood and feminist spaces.
Image credits: jk_rowling
The exchanges are the latest in a conversation that started in 2020 when Rowling expressed her views surrounding gender in a 3,600-word statement on her website, sharing her story as an abuse victim and stating that “if gender isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased.”
Raddclife subsequently issued a statement reaffirming his belief that “transgender women are women” and reassuring his fanbase that Rowling’s views “are not the views of everyone associated with the Potter franchise.”
