‘Harry Potter’ actor defends J.K. Rowland amid anti-transgender allegations
British actor Robbie Coltrane, who played the gentle half-giant, half-human in the “Harry Potter” film series is defending writer J.K. Rowling from accusations of transphobia.
Rowling, the creator of the “Harry Potter” universe has been at odds with the transgender community for years, amid a number of much-publicized incidents largely seen as anti-transgender.
Even though the best-selling author vehemently denies that her comments are transphobic, she has been fiercely criticized for her views by some outspoken critics.
That includes two of “Harry Potter” biggest stars (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson); LGBTQ rights organizations around the world; and the president of the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights organization, Kerry Kennedy, whose statement expressing her “profound disappointment” with Rowling’s views prompted the author to return the prestigious Ripple of Hope Award, presented to her by the organization in 2019.
The controversy was reignited this week, with the release of Rowling’s new book, “Troubled Blood.” Writing under a male pseudonym, Rowling tells the story of a male serial killer named Dennis Creed who dresses up as a woman to kill his female victims.
“One wonders what critics of Rowling’s stance on trans issues will make of a book whose moral seems to be: never trust a man in a dress,” an early reviewer wrote Sunday.
“For someone who has said she ‘loves’ and ‘supports’ trans people, perhaps she should support them by avoiding deeply harmful tropes about our community,” a columnist for Metro UK tweeted. “But she doesn’t care — this is deliberate. It’s gross.”
As criticism on social media increased — and Rowling’s new 900-page novel got the hashtag #RIPJKRowling trending — Coltrane said that he doesn’t really think her remarks have been “offensive.”
“I don’t know why but there’s a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended,” the 70-year-old told Radio Times magazine, in an interview that has been viewed by numerous British publications.
“They wouldn’t have won the war, would they? That’s me talking like a grumpy old man, but you just think, ‘Oh, get over yourself. Wise up, stand up straight and carry on.’”
He also added that he didn’t want to “get involved in all of that because of all the hate mail and all that s--t, which I don’t need at my time of life”.
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