Daniel Radcliffe opens up about why he denounced J.K. Rowling's transphobic views
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has long been under fire for her remarks on the transgender community, with many calling her out for her transphobic views. This includes Daniel Radcliffe, who stars as the titular character in her best-selling books.
In a recent interview with IndieWire published on Nov. 1, Radcliffe had opened up about why it was important for him to denounce Rowling's views.
The actor previously wrote a letter that was published by The Trevor Project back in 2020, wherein he stressed that "transgender women are women" and that everyone needs to "support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities, and not cause further harm."
The Trevor Project is an organization that focuses on suicide prevention among the LGBTQ community, and Radcliffe has long been a supporter of it for more than ten years.
Because of this, he felt the need to call out Rowling because, in his words: "I don’t think I would’ve been able to look myself in the mirror had I not said anything."
The actor was also deeply worried about the young trans fans who felt betrayed and hurt by the author's remarks.
"The reason I felt very, very much as though I needed to say something when I did was because, particularly since finishing Potter, I’ve met so many queer and trans kids and young people who had a huge amount of identification with Potter on that," Radcliffe said.
He went on, "Seeing them hurt on that day I was like, I wanted them to know that not everybody in the franchise felt that way. And that was really important."
Rowling had been on the receiving end of public packlash since 2019, when she posted her support for a researcher named Maya Forstater, who lost her job following tweets attacking the transgender community. Many said that by defending Forstater, she was justifying transphobia.
Several other Harry Potter stars have voiced out their disapproval of Rowling's views, including Emma Watson. In a tweet back in 2020, she 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."
