JK Rowling has stated that she would not accept an apology from Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson if they were to retract their prior statements about the transgender debate.
The author has hit out at stars who “used their platform to cheer on the transition of minors” after Dr Hilary Cass released a report into gender treatment in the UK.
Cass stated that people who supported gender transition in children should apologise to “traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single-sex spaces”.
She also reported that teenagers in Britain have been allowed to change their gender based on “remarkably weak evidence” and that there was a “lack of high-quality research”.
Following the report, many have expressed their misgivings over allowing children to take puberty blockers and hormones, including comedian Graham Linehan who lost his career and reputation over his controversial views.
Shortly after the report was released, Rowling took to her X account and issued a series of tweets and claimed she was “bl**dy angry.”
J.K. Rowling issued a series of tweets regarding the recent Cass report
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“Thousands are complicit, not just medics, but the celebrity mouthpieces, unquestioning media and cynical corporations,” she added.
Replying to one of seven tweets, one X user said: “Just waiting for Daniel [Radcliffe] and Emma [Watson] to give you a very public apology. Safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them.”
Rowling quickly responded: “Not safe, I'm afraid. Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women's hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single-sex spaces.”
Another user said: “I reckon a few people you used to know, owe them and you a huge apology and a public one at that.” (sic)
JK Rowling claimed her former Harry Potter colleagues could 'save' their apologies
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The ongoing feud between Rowling and her Harry Potter colleagues began back in 2020 when she retweeted an op-ed piece which discussed menstruation within women.
Taking an issue with the fact that the piece did not use the word women, she fumed: “'People who menstruate’. I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomund?.”
The tweet garnered a lot of backlash and forced the Harry Potter stars to release statements noting that they did not support Rowling’s comments.
Radcliffe said: “While Jo is unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken, I feel compelled to say something at this moment.
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JK Rowling hit back at her former Harry Potter colleagues
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“Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional healthcare associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.
“To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished. I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you.
“I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you…. And in my opinion, nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much.”
Watson, for her part, tweeted shortly after Radcliffe’s statement and penned: “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”
She continued: “I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”
Rupert Grint, who portrayed Ron Weasley, and Bonnie Wright, who starred as Ginny Weasley, also hit out Rowling’s comment, with the former stating: “We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgment.”