J.K. Rowling Says She Won’t Forgive Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson Over Trans Comments: They Can ‘Save Their Apologies’

Controversial author J.K. Rowling is speaking out against her former Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson.

In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday, April 10, the fantasy book series’ author — who has previously been criticized for anti-transgender comments, as well as her support for others with anti-transgender views — shared a recent independent review “of the medical evidence for transitioning children.”

One follower responded to her on X, “Just waiting for Dan and Emma to give you a very public apology … safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them … ” (Neither Radcliffe, 34, nor Watson, 33, have spoken out about their views on medical transitioning of children.)

“Not safe, I’m afraid,” Rowling said. “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.”

In June 2020, Rowling posted a lengthy essay about her views on gender and wrote that as an advocate for women’s and children’s rights, “I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode ‘woman’ as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it.”

Stating that she’s a survivor of sexual assault and domestic abuse, she continued, “So I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman … then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside.”

LGBTQ advocates and multiple stars of Rowling’s movies quickly spoke out against her comments, with GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis calling it a “misinformed and dangerous missive about transgender people” that “flies in the face of medical and psychological experts and devalues trans people accounts of their own lives.”

Following the publication of Rowling’s essay, Radcliffe — who played the titular boy wizard in all eight Harry Potter films adapted from Rowling’s books, from 2001 to 2011 — vocalized his support for trans women in a short essay for the Trevor Project.

Stating definitively in the article that “transgender women are women,” the Merrily We Roll Along actor added in part, “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.”

Watson, who played Hermione Granger, did not name Rowling specifically, but wrote on X the same day, “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,” the Beauty and the Beast star added in a follow-up post.

Other Potter alums who have weighed in, in support of Rowling or otherwise, include Jason Isaacs, the late Robbie Coltrane, Harry Melling, Evanna Lynch and Rupert Grint.

“I firmly stand with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers. Trans women are women. Trans men are men,” said Grint, 35, according to U.K.’s Sunday Times. “We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgment.”

The actor, who played Ron Weasley, later wrote a piece for The Times’ “What I’ve Learnt” series, revealing of his thoughts about “auntie” Rowling, “I don’t necessarily agree with everything my auntie says, but she’s still my auntie. … It’s a tricky one.”