J.K. Rowling Really Can’t Help Herself
Last week, Harry Potter actress Emma Watson made headlines after addressing her fractured relationship with the franchise’s author, J.K. Rowling, who has spent the past five years spewing transphobic misinformation on X. “I hope I can keep loving people who I don’t share the same opinion with,” Watson said in a viral podcast interview with wellness coach Jay Shetty. She explained that her beliefs don’t preclude her from treasuring her memories of the Rowling she “once had experiences with.” A pretty measured and gracious response, all things considered, so of course, the internet’s most vocal transphobe couldn’t take it lying down.
Two days after Watson’s interview aired, Rowling — who since 2020 has dedicated her X presence to so many steadfast attacks against trans women that even Elon Musk once suggested she talk about other things — reshared a parody video of the actress to her platform. On Monday, she followed that up with a lengthy X screed in which she acknowledged that she isn’t owed “eternal agreement” from actors who once played characters she created, but nonetheless blasted Watson and her Harry Potter co-star Daniel Radcliffe for critiquing her views in public. Rowling, who has spent years shading “celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights,” claims she’s only just now exercising her right to talk about Watson. She accused her former colleague of putting “more petrol” on anti-Rowling backlash in her 2022 BAFTA speech, in which Watson told the audience she was “here for all the witches.”
To top it all off, Rowling, a famous billionaire who frequently uses her immense wealth to fund anti-trans causes, suggested that Watson ultimately doesn’t know what she’s talking about because of her … money and fame. “Like other people who’ve never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is,” she wrote. At least one person agrees — Meghan McCain took to X to praise Rowling for being a “fearless icon.” Hmm. The company you keep, right?
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