Just recently, actor Ralph Fiennes made headlines again for defending the transphobic comments made by “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling. It’s been literal years since Rowling first came under fire for her transphobic posts on social media, but because she is one of the most famous writers in the world, people are still talking about it. However, even with her powerful status as an author, not everyone involved with the “Harry Potter” legacy was willing to defend Rowling’s comments. One of the most outspoken against Rowling is none other than Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe.
In a recent interview with IndieWire, while promoting his new film, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,” Daniel Radcliffe explained his reasons for speaking out against J.K. Rowling, even though it meant calling out the woman who is greatly responsible for his career, as we know it. And according to the actor, he just couldn’t let transphobic comments spew from Rowling without pushing back.
“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,” he explained. “And so 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.”
Radcliffe added, “It was really important as I’ve worked with the Trevor Project for more than 10 years, and so I don’t think I would’ve been able to look myself in the mirror had I not said anything. But it’s not mine to guess what’s going on in someone else’s head.”
At the time, when J.K. Rowling first made transphobic comments that caught the eye of the media, there weren’t very many public figures taking her to task. However, Radcliffe was one of the first high-profile people to flat-out say that Rowling’s words were wrong and hurtful. Eventually, we did see quite a few “Harry Potter” actors speak out against Rowling, with varying degrees of animosity towards the author.
Radcliffe’s new film, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story” arrives on The Roku Channel on November 4.