Daniel Radcliffe breaks silence on fallout with JK Rowling over trans stance
1 May 2024, 12:20
Daniel Radcliffe has reopened his row with JK Rowling over trans views by saying his beliefs don't have to align with the author's just because she made him a star.
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The Harry Potter actor, 34, and fellow stars Emma Watson, 34, and Rupert Grint, 35, have been outspoken in support of gender ideology - that biologically male trans women are actually women.
Although Radcliffe admitted "nothing in my life" would likely have happened if not for Rowling, 58, he said that didn't mean he didn't owes her "the things he truly believes".
Radcliffe, who became a worldwide star after playing schoolboy wizard Harry in the big screen adaptations of Rowling's novels said he has had no direct contact with the writer throughout the trans controversy.
The pair have not spoken since 2020 after she hit out at an article that used the phrase "people who menstruate" instead of women, writing: "I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?"
Shortly afterwards, Radcliffe wrote an article for an LGBT+ suicide prevention charity that said "transgender women are women"'.
The dad-of-one told The Atlantic: "It makes me really sad, ultimately, because 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.
"Jo, obviously Harry potter would not have happened without her, so nothing in my life would have probably happened the way it is without that person. But that doesn’t mean that you owe the things you truly believe to someone else for your entire life."
On April 10, in apost shared on X -formerly Twitter - Rowling spoke about the Cass Review, which examines gender services for young people in the UK, in particular the use of puberty blockers.
As a response to Rowling's tweet, one of her followers stated: "Just waiting for Dan and Emma to give you a very public apology... safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them..."
Rowling hit back, telling her fan: "Not safe, I'm afraid," and went on to say, "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."
Radcliffe then issued a response to Rowling's recent comments on X formerly Twitter regarding himself and co-star Watson, with Rowling seemingly implying she would not "forgive" the two stars should they ever decide to apologise to them for supporting the trans community.
He said: "I will continue to support the rights of all LGBTQ people, and have no further comment than that."
