{"id":190318,"date":"2025-09-29T17:03:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T17:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/190318\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T17:03:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T17:03:07","slug":"j-k-rowling-calls-emma-watson-ignorant-as-trans-clash-escalates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/190318\/","title":{"rendered":"J.K. Rowling Calls Emma Watson ‘Ignorant’ as Trans Clash Escalates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tHarry Potter<\/a> creator J.K. Rowling<\/a> has hit out at Emma Watson<\/a> in a lengthy statement on X, saying: \u201cShe has so little experience of real life she\u2019s ignorant of how ignorant she is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWatson, who famously played Hermione Granger in the film adaptations of Rowling\u2019s books, recently starred on a podcast interview with Jay Shetty <\/a>where she voiced her \u201cdeepest wish\u201d that she be permitted to separate her relationship with the author from their opposing views on trans rights.<\/p>\n

\n\tRowling, a staunch advocate for anti-trans policies in the U.K., has regularly come under fire for her transphobia. She has often been publicly critcized over her politics in recent years, notably by the main trio of Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, who have expressed support for the trans community.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut some were surprised to see Watson make some more neutral comments last week. She told Shetty: \u201cI will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person, I don\u2019t get to keep and cherish to come back to our earlier thing. I just don\u2019t think these things are either or. It\u2019s my deepest wish that people who don\u2019t agree with my opinion will love me, and I hope I can keep loving people who I don\u2019t necessarily share the same opinion with.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, Rowling swiftly used the interview as social media ammo and poked fun at Watson. She responded to a clip by comedian Intel Lady, who made a spoof video out of Watson\u2019s comments. Rowling said on X: \u201cI\u2019m already missing @intel_lady\u2019s Angela Rayner, but I\u2019m here for ALL the spoofs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Monday, Rowling clarified her stance further. The writer, again, took to X and said: \u201cI\u2019m not owed eternal agreement from any actor who once played a character I created. The idea is as ludicrous as me checking with the boss I had when I was twenty-one for what opinions I should hold these days. Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn\u2019t want to see any of them threatened with loss of work, or violence, or death, because of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHowever,\u201d she continued, \u201cEmma and Dan [Radcliffe] in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right \u2014 nay, obligation \u2014 to critique me and my views in public. She said the pair have continued to \u201cassume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created,\u201d years after Harry Potter drew to a close.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen you\u2019ve known people since they were ten years old it\u2019s hard to shake a certain protectiveness,\u201d said Rowling, who explained it wasn\u2019t until quite recently that she\u2019d managed to \u201cthrow off the memory of children who needed to be gently coaxed through their dialogue in a big scary film studio.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRowling went on to say that over the years she has \u201crepeatedly declined invitations from journalists to comment on Emma specifically.\u201d At the height of \u201cdeath, rape and torture threats\u201d thrown at Rowling, she added, \u201cEmma asked someone to pass on a handwritten note from her to me, which contained the single sentence, \u2018I\u2019m so sorry for what you\u2019re going through\u2019.\u201d The author caveated this statement with the claim that Watson has her phone number.<\/p>\n

\n\tLater on in the post, Rowling also said Watson \u201chas so little experience of real life she\u2019s ignorant of how ignorant she is [\u2026] I wasn\u2019t a multimillionaire at fourteen,\u201d she continued. \u201cI lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe\u2019ll never need a homeless shelter,\u201d said the author about the Little Women star, who went on to defend her anti-trans beliefs. \u201cShe\u2019s never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward. I\u2019d be astounded if she\u2019s been in a high street changing room since childhood. Her \u2018public bathroom\u2019 is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door. Has she had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe post ended with: \u201cThe greatest irony here is that, had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me \u2014 a change of tack I suspect she\u2019s adopted because she\u2019s noticed full-throated condemnation of me is no longer quite as fashionable as it was \u2014 I might never have been this honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSaid Rowling: \u201cEmma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public \u2014\u00a0but I have the same right, and I\u2019ve finally decided to exercise it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWatson received backlash herself for the comments she made on Shetty\u2019s podcast. One user earned 13,000 likes on a post on X that read: \u201cSaying you can \u2018still love\u2019 Rowling while she openly attacks trans people just shows you are insulated from the damage she causes\u2026 That\u2019s not grace, it is privilege!!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRead the full response from Rowling below.<\/p>\n

I’m seeing quite a bit of comment about this, so I want to make a couple of points.<\/p>\n

I’m not owed eternal agreement from any actor who once played a character I created. The idea is as ludicrous as me checking with the boss I had when I was twenty-one for what opinions I should\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/c0pz19P7jc<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 29, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n