Daniel Radcliffe 'Really Sad' About J.K. Rowling's Transphobic Comments

Daniel Radcliffe, currently starring on Broadway in Merrily We Roll Along, has once again voiced his support for the LGBTQ+ community in response to J.K. Rowling's most recent attacks on the transgender community. In a recent interview with The Atlantic, Radcliffe expressed his profound disappointment over the remarks made by the author.

“It makes me really sad, ultimately, 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.” said Radcliffe.

Radcliffe's commitment to LGBTQ+ rights is longstanding, highlighted by his 12-year involvement with the Trevor Project, an organization focused on suicide prevention efforts among LGBTQ+ youth. His advocacy continued unabated in 2020 when he penned a powerful essay rebutting Rowling's stance by affirming, "transgender women are women."

Reflecting on his decision to write the essay, Radcliffe said “I’d worked with the Trevor Project for 12 years and it would have seemed like, I don’t know, immense cowardice to me to not say something. I wanted to try and help people that had been negatively affected by the comments. And to say that if those are Jo’s views, then they are not the views of everybody associated with the Potter franchise.”

Earlier this month, Rowling reacted to a social media post calling for an apology from Radcliffe and his co-star Emma Watson, following a British government report that she claimed validated her views. Rowling's response emphasized her concern over the "transitioning of minors" and the impact of certain movements on "women's hard-won rights."

When asked about Rowling's recent social media comments, Radcliffe responded, "I will continue to support the rights of all LGBTQ people, and have no further comment than that."

Addressing critiques that label him as ungrateful for opposing Rowling, Radcliffe stated "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. But that doesn’t mean that you owe the things you truly believe to someone else for your entire life."