J.K. Rowling has publicly responded to Emma Watson after the “Harry Potter” actor spoke out about their relationship and disagreements on gender identity.
Watson appeared on the Jay Shetty Podcast last week where she reflected on their relationship, stating that she still loves the author and refuses to “cancel her out” despite their conflicting views.
“It’s my deepest wish that I hope people who don’t agree with my opinion will love me, and I hope I can keep loving people who I don’t necessarily share the same opinion with,” Watson said. “And I think that’s a very very important way for me that I need to be able to move through life.”
After hearing these comments, Rowling took to X on Monday to post a lengthy condemnation of the actor and co-star Daniel Radcliffe for assuming a “de facto” role as spokespeople for the world she created.
“I’m not owed eternal agreement from any actor who once played a character I created,” she wrote. “The idea is as ludicrous as me checking with the boss I had when I was twenty-one for what opinions I should hold these days.”
Rowling then targeted Watson’s upbringing and wealth claiming that she “has so little experience in real life” and that “she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is.”
“She’ll never need a homeless shelter. She’s never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward…,” Rowling wrote. “I wasn’t a multimillionaire at fourteen. I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous,” Rowling wrote, arguing her life experience gives her a clearer view of what “the trashing of women’s rights in which Emma has so enthusiastically participated means to women and girls without her privileges.”
The tensions stem from comments Rowling made in 2020, when she was accused of transphobia after criticizing an article’s headline: “Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.” Rowling wrote “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
Both Watson, who played J.K. Rowling’s character Hermione Granger in films of the books, and Radcliffe then publicly distanced themselves from the author at the time.
Radcliffe stated: “Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations.”
Watson wrote, “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.”
Despite their rift, Watson said in the recent interview that she will still “treasure Jo” and praised Rowling for her past “kindness and words of encouragement.”
“I just don’t know what else to do other than hold these two seemingly incompatible things together at the same time and just hope maybe they will one day resolve or co-join themselves, and maybe accept that they never will, but that they can both still be true.”
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