Daniel Radcliffe has responded to J.K. Rowling’s statement that she will not accept an apology from him or “Harry Potter” co-star Emma Watson – not that one has been offered – saying the whole thing makes him “really sad, ultimately.”
Rowling, who in recent years has faced stiff backlash and accusations of being a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist), shared a thread about gender-identity services on X in April. In the comments, a user commented that they’re waiting for “Harry Potter” stars Radcliffe and Watson to give Rowling a “very public apology.”
“Not safe, I’m afraid,” Rowling responded. “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.”
In a recent profile with The Atlantic, the actor addressed the comments, saying, “I will continue to support the rights of all LGBTQ people, and have no further comment than that.” It should be noted that neither Radcliffe nor Watson has ever issued Rowling an apology on this subject.
Radcliffe also opened up about why it was important to him to stand up for the trans community following Rowling’s very outspoken criticism. The star noted that, over the years, he’s realized “Harry Potter” appealed to some fans “who were dealing with feeling closeted or rejected by their family or living with a secret.”
This understanding of his fans paired with his long history of publicly supporting the Trevor project, the LGBTQ suicide-prevention hotline and crisis-intervention organization, led to Radcliffe issuing a statement that “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 who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I,” Radcliffe’s original statement, issued in 2020, continues.
“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,” Radcliffe told The Atlantic. He also noted that he issued a statement to help anyone who had been negatively impacted by Rowling’s views and to show “they are not the views of everybody associated with the ‘Potter’ franchise.”
The article notes Radcliffe has had no direct contact with Rowling throughout this public exchange. “It makes me really sad, ultimately,” Radcliffe said of the author, “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.”
