J.K. Rowling Says She Won’t Forgive Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson for Trans Stance

James Hibberd
·4 min read
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J.K. Rowling suggests she will not forgive her Harry Potter stars for going against her views on trans rights in the wake of a new report criticizing current gender care treatments for young people.

On Wednesday, the BBC reported on a four-year review investigating gender care commissioned by the NHS. The report concluded that gender services were based on “remarkably weak” evidence and that children had been “let down” by medical professionals. “The reality is we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions [such as puberty blockers] to manage gender-related distress,” wrote pediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass. “It is unusual for us to give a potentially life-changing treatment to young people and not know what happens to them in adulthood.”

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Rowling, who has drawn considerable fire in recent years for her outspoken and staunch social media campaign against certain aspects of the trans rights movement, issued several comments about the report on X.

At one point, one of Rowling’s followers said they were waiting for Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson — both of whom publicly broke with Rowling to issue comments supporting trans rights in 2020 — to “give you a very public apology … safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them.”

Rowling replied, “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.”

Rowling’s comment came amid the author tweeting several times about the Cass report’s conclusions in general.

“Over the last four years, Hilary Cass has conducted the most robust review of the medical evidence for transitioning children that’s ever been conducted,” Rowling wrote. “Mere hours after it was released to the press and public, committed ideologues are doubling down. The consequences of this scandal will play out for decades. You cheered it on. You did all you could to impede and misrepresent research. You tried to bully people out of their jobs for opposing you. Young people have been experimented on, left infertile and in pain. I thought the last tweet was going to be my last, but I just burst into tears. The #CassReview may be a watershed moment, but it comes too late for detransitioners who’ve written me heartbreaking letters of regret. Today’s not a triumph, it’s the laying bare of a tragedy. And if I sound angry, it’s because I’m bloody angry. I read Cass this morning and my anger’s been mounting all day. Kids have been irreversibly harmed, and thousands are complicit, not just medics, but the celebrity mouthpieces, unquestioning media and cynical corporations.”

In 2020, Radcliffe replied to a Rowling tweet about the issue: “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 health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I. According to The Trevor Project, 78% of transgender and nonbinary youth reported being the subject of discrimination due to their gender identity. It’s clear that we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities, and not cause further harm.”

While Watson tweeted: “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. 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.”

Rowling’s position on the trans issue has been a source of awkwardness in her longtime and otherwise mutually beneficial relationship with Warner Bros., which has continued to explore new avenues of Wizarding World content. The studio has announced a reboot of the Harry Potter saga as a TV series for Max that will have a new cast and Rowling on board. Warner Bros. hopes to have the first season debut in 2026.

“I was in London a few weeks ago with Casey [Bloys, HBO and Max chief] and Channing [Dungey, WBD TV chief] and we spent some real time with J.K. and her team,” Warner Bros. Discovery chief David Zaslav said earlier this year. “Both sides are thrilled to be reigniting this franchise. Our conversations were great, and we couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead. We can’t wait to share a decade of new stories with fans around the world on Max.”

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