Daniel Radcliffe has addressed his fall-out with Harry Potter author JK Rowling for the first time since 2020, saying it “makes me really sad”.
Rowling, who first faced a backlash from several key cast members when she shared controversial remarks about the trans community in 2020, has seen her relationship with stars deteriorate amid increasingly toxic debate.
Radcliffe starred as the titular hero in all eight Potter films, based on her bestselling novels, from 2001 to 2011.
In a new interview with The Atlantic published Tuesday (30 April) – the same day Radcliffe was nominated for a Tony Award – the 34-year-old actor revealed he hasn’t spoken to Rowling, 58, in years.
“It makes me really sad, ultimately,” he said, “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,” he added. “But that doesn’t mean that you owe the things you truly believe to someone else for your entire life.”
The author was met with backlash in 2020 after calling out an article’s use of the phrase “people who menstruate”, writing: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
Around that time, Radcliffe wrote an essay for The Trevor Project as a way of showing support for the trans community and apologised “for the pain” Rowling’s comments have caused the Harry Potter fandom.
“Transgender women are women,” he wrote for the suicide prevention charity for young LGBT+ people.
“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.”
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Meanwhile, Emma Watson, who portrayed Hermione Granger, wrote: “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,” and appeared to make a dig at Rowling at the Baftas in 2022.
Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) also gave his support to the trans community, asserting: “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.”
Rowling has since continued to double down on her anti-trans sentiments.
Earlier this month, following the release of the Cass report, Rowling told Radcliffe and Watson to “save their apologies” for “traumatised detransitioners”.
Making suggestions for improvements, the report claims there is “remarkably weak evidence” for giving children and young people gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers.
Rowling responded by saying this report should be evidence enough for those in favour of gender-affirming care to reconsider their stance.
A Twitter user – who went by the name “FarRightHooligan” – told the author they were waiting for Radcliffe and Watson to give the author “a very public apology”.
The author 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.”
