J.K. Rowling says Harry Potter franchise alumni Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson can "save their apologies."
In a tweet shared Wednesday, the author responded to a fan who said they were "waiting" on the actors to give her "a very public apology," adding that they were "safe in the knowledge" that Rowling would "forgive them." Both actors have spoken out against rhetoric from Rowling widely called out as transphobic, with Radcliffe, for example, sharing an open letter back in 2020.
"Not safe, I'm afraid," Rowling, who last year said she would "happily" go to jail for her anti-trans views, said on Wednesday. "Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women's hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces."
Rowling isn’t the only public figure to have become bizarrely obsessed with trans issues later into their career. Dave Chappelle, of course, has taken a similar route, with fellow comedian Jerrod Carmichael among those questioning why, exactly, an artist would willingly undermine their own legacy.
"It's an odd hill to die on," Carmichael told GQ in 2022. More recently, Carmichael revealed in an interview with Esquire that "egomaniac" Chappelle wanted him to make a public apology.
