Daniel Radcliffe addresses Harry Potter fans whose love of the books was 'tarnished' by J.K. Rowling
Recent tweets from J.K. Rowling have now drawn pushback from the boy who lived himself.
Daniel Radcliffe this week publicly rejected yet another series of controversial comments by the Harry Potter author, writing in a blog post for The Trevor Project that "transgender women are women," and "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."
Radcliffe was responding to Rowling's tweets over the weekend that were widely criticized as transphobic. In one, she linked to an article referencing "people who menstruate" and wrote, "I'm sure there used to be a word for those people." She also wrote in another tweet that "if sex isn't real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Her comments already faced blowback from one Harry Potter star, with Katie Leung, who played Cho Chang in the films, subtweeting Rowling and linking to resources for black trans women and LGBTQ people of color.
After writing that "we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities," Radcliffe in his post also acknowledged Harry Potter fans who say Rowling's comments have "tarnished or diminished" their experience with the series.
"If you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred," he wrote. "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."
-
‘The point here is not to be anti-tech, but to rebalance a dynamic’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Political cartoons for December 22Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include energy bills, redacted files, and renaming the Washington monument
-
Guess the Number: December 2025Puzzles The daily number puzzle from The Week
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
