Stephen Fry says JK Rowling has been “radicalised” and is a “a lost cause”
Harry Potter narrator and beloved comedian Stephen Fry is the next celebrity to publicly express his disdain for JK Rowling‘s anti-trans viewpoint.
Speaking on The Show People, Fry underlined his new disappointment in the author. With great clarity, Fry said, “She has been radicalised I fear and it may be she has been radicalised by TERFs, but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her.” TERF is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist.
He continued, “‘It is unhelpful and only hardens her and will only continue to harden her I am afraid. I am not saying that she not be called out when she says things that are really cruel, wrong and mocking. She seems to be a lost cause for us.”
In 2022, Fry tried to remain neutral. He said at the time, “[Rowling is] a friend and I have trans friends and intersex friends who are deeply upset by her. That’s a circle I have to square personally. I’m not going to abandon my friends.” However, he shut down further conversation by stressing that he did not “want to get involved in” the debate.
Fry, who has voiced all seven audiobooks in the Harry Potter series, has now had enough of her public statements targeting the transgender community. He said: ‘She started to make these peculiar statements and had very strong, difficult views. She seemed to wake up or kick a hornet’s nest of transphobia, which has been entirely destructive.”
He continued, “I disagree profoundly with her on this subject. I am angry she does not disavow some of the more revolting and truly horrible, destructive, violently destructive things that people say. She does not attack those at all. She says things that are inflammatory and contemptuous, mocking and add to a terribly distressing time for trans people.”
Fry said that he finds this particularly difficult because he used to be close to Rowling. He reminisced, “I am sorry because I always liked her company. I found her charming, funny and interesting and then this thing happened and it completely altered the way she talks and engages with the world now.”
He noted particularly her celebration of “the legislation in Scotland and elsewhere declaring things about gender” lead to his heightened feelings. JK Rowling posted a smug photograph on X at the news that the Supreme Court ruling equated biological sex with gender. Hordes of celebrities reacted against this news, and indeed Rowling’s involvement in it, to show solidarity with the trans community.
Fry reiterated, “I am very happy to go on the record to say that I am really angry about that. My view about all things of sharp and difficult nature is that is is much more important to be effective than to be right.”
Many other old and new Harry Potter stars, such as David Tennant, Nick Frost, Paapa Essiedu and Daniel Radcliffe, have spoken out about the author’s issue with the transgender community.
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