Over the past two years, J.K. Rowling has gone out of her way to make numerous transphobic statements and reveal that she’s a bonafide bigot. The majority of Harry Potter cast members don’t align their beliefs with those of the discriminatory author, but at least she has Lord Voldemort on her side.
Ralph Fiennes joins Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid, as the latest Harry Potter actor to defend Rowling’s comments. In a new interview with The Telegraph, Fiennes sympathized with Rowling, going on to say “the vitriol” sent her way is “disturbing.” You would think Fiennes could comprehend why transgender people being denied the bare minimum — respect and equality, particularly in the form of having their gender identity understood — by a life-changing author has fans up in arms. Then again, he played one of the most iconic villains of all time, so I guess it takes one to know one.
“I can’t understand the vitriol directed at her,” said Fiennes in the interview. “I can understand the heat of an argument, but I find this age of accusation and the need to condemn irrational. I find the level of hatred that people express about views that differ from theirs, and the violence of language towards others, disturbing.”
It’s odd Fiennes would take such a stance — that Rowling is the victim of “irrational” accusations of bigotry — considering the author is merely being held accountable for the very transphobic beliefs that she’s openly and repeatedly claimed. After hinting at her stance in 2019, Rowling spent 2020 molting into an icon for TERFs everywhere. She suggested that trans-affirming language “removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives,” called gender reassignment a “new kind of conversion therapy” for gay people, and said she harbors “deep concerns about the effect the trans rights movement is having on” children and education.
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But wait, that’s not all. Rowling also wrote a 3,600-word essay in which she argued that allowing transgender women into “single-sex spaces” would “make natal girls and women less safe.” Then she followed that up with a literal book about a male serial killer who wears dresses.
For those keeping score, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Eddie Redmayne have all issued statements condemning the author’s comments. Meanwhile, Rowling has returned her Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Awards after the organization denounced her actions, she blocked Stephen King on Twitter following a humiliating comeback, and she believes she’s a victim of cancel culture despite raking in millions on the regular. But hey, at least the notoriously empathetic Voldemort has got her back.
