J.K. Rowling Knew ‘Harry Potter’ Fans Would Be “Deeply Unhappy” by Her Anti-Transgender Remarks

J.K. Rowling continues to dig a hole for herself. The Harry Potter author further commented on her anti-transgender beliefs, stating that she “absolutely knew” her fans would be “deeply unhappy” about her stance. 

On Tuesday’s (March 14) episode of The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling, a podcast which documents Rowling’s opinions on controversies “from book bans to gender and sex,” the author claimed “a lot of Potter fans” supported her when she first began sharing her beliefs.

Per Entertainment Weekly, Rowling insisted, “In fact, a ton of Potter fans were grateful that I’d said what I said.”

During the episode, Rowling also stated that she “absolutely knew” her fanbase would be “deeply unhappy” with her comments against transgender individuals, saying, “I could see that they believed they were living the values that I had espoused in those books. I could tell that they believed they were fighting for underdogs and difference and fairness.”

Rowling has repeatedly denied that transgender women are “real women,” going as far to insist that cis women are under attack by their transgender counterparts.

In 2020, she tweeted, “If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased,” among other comments. Her controversial tweets were followed by a 3,600-word blog post about why she has spoken out on “sex and gender issues.”

On the podcast, Rowling added, “Time will tell whether I’ve got this wrong. I can only say that I’ve thought about it deeply and hard and long and I’ve listened, I promise, to the other side. And I believe absolutely that there is something dangerous about this movement and it must be challenged.”

She went on to criticize those who claim she has “betrayed” her book series with her beliefs. “My position is that I am absolutely upholding the positions that I took in Potter,” Rowling explained. “My position is that this activist movement, in the form that it’s currently taking, echoes the very thing that I was warning against in Harry Potter.”

The author went on to compare trans activists to Death Eaters.

“Some of you have not understood the books. The Death Eaters claimed we have been made to live in secret and now is our time. And any who stand in our way must be destroyed. If you disagree with us, you must die,” she said. 

“I am fighting what I see as a powerful, insidious, misogynistic movement that I think has gained huge purchase in very influential areas of society. I do not see this particular movement as either benign or powerless. So, I’m afraid I stand with the women who are fighting to be heard against threat of loss of livelihood and threats to their personal safety,” the author concluded.

Rowling’s anti-trans rhetoric has been denounced by several actors from the Harry Potter film franchise, including the core three: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. Though, some have flocked to her defense, including Helena Bonham Carter, who portrayed Bellatrix Lestrange in four Harry Potter films.

The actor called the backlash Rowling has received “horrendous” and “a load of bollocks.”