Daniel Radcliffe Politely Tells JK Rowling To Fall the Fuck Back

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been keen to let her fans know just how much of an unrelenting transphobe she is of late, and Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe had had enough.

On Monday, Radcliffe wrote an essay for LGBTQ youth non-profit The Trevor Project about the importance of being an ally to transgender people.

“Transgender women are women,” Radcliffe wrote. “Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”

Radcliffe acknowledged that while Rowling is “unquestionably responsible for the course [his] life has taken,” he felt compelled to speak out following a series of dismissive tweets Rowling wrote about transgender people (a favorite past time of British feminists).

The latest shitty tweet was instigated by a headline that referred to “people who menstruate,” Rowling tweeted: “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

Rowling received swift condemnation. But she dug herself into a deeper hole by explaining her reasoning, writing that “if sex isn’t real there’s no same-sex attraction,” using her “butch lesbian” friend to defend her TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) talking points, and promising to march with trans people who are discriminated against… as if trans women weren’t already marching to combat this ideology.

“My life has been shaped by being female,” Rowling tweeted. “I do not believe it’s hateful to say so.”

Radcliffe, who famously portrayed the titular character in the Harry Potter film franchise, had a simple message for fans who felt betrayed by Rowling’s recent comments:

To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you. I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you. If these books taught you that love is the strongest force in the universe, capable of overcoming anything; if they taught you that strength is found in diversity, and that dogmatic ideas of pureness lead to the oppression of vulnerable groups; if you believe that a particular character is trans, nonbinary, or gender fluid, or that they are gay or bisexual; if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. And in my opinion nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much.

Thanks, Dan. Going to go back to knowing that Remus Lupin is a gay werewolf in peace.