‘We were never friends.' JK Rowling rebuffs Stephen Fry in trans row
JK Rowling has issued a withering rebuff to Sir Stephen Fry after he claimed she had become 'radicalised' over trans issues and described her as being a 'lost cause'.
The broadcaster and author previously dined regularly with Rowling and narrated the audiobook versions of her seven Harry Potter novels.
However, last week he claimed the Edinburgh-based writer's views had become 'inflammatory and contemptuous'.
Jolyon Maugham, the barrister and author, took to social media to echo Fry's views.
'Really creditable this, from Stephen Fry. I've spoken to so many of JKR's once friends who now despair at her privately but won't do so publicly, which is very much the British way and why nothing ever changes for the better,' he wrote. 'So well done Stephen'.
Rowling, however, appeared to suggest that Fry was mistaken in his belief that they were once close.
'It is a great mistake to assume that everyone who claims to have been a friend of mine was ever considered a friend by me,' she wrote, responding to Maugham on X.
Rowling has become one of the most outspoken campaigners for women-only spaces, becoming a target for criticism from transgender rights activists.
Supreme Court judges ruled in April that under equality law the definition of a woman is based on biological sex and biological men cannot become women regardless of whether they hold a gender recognition certificate.
The ruling was the culmination of a long-running legal battle and has significant implications for how sex-based rights apply across Scotland, England and Wales.
The court sided with campaign group For Women Scotland, which brought a case against the Scottish government challenging its guidance on gender representation.
Rowling had donated £70,000 to the group to help fund their challenge.
Fry, speaking on The Show People podcast, suggested her views had become extreme. 'She started to make these peculiar statements and had very strong, difficult views,' he said.
'She seemed to wake up, or kick, a hornets' nest of transphobia, which has been entirely destructive. I disagree profoundly with her on this subject.'
Fry, who is gay, said he was angry that Rowling had failed to disavow 'some of the more revolting and truly horrible' things people say.
'She says things that are inflammatory and contemptuous, mocking and add to a terribly distressing time for trans people. She has been radicalised, I fear,' he said, suggesting she had been hardened by the vitriol thrown at her.
'I am sorry because I always liked her company. I found her charming, funny and interesting and then this thing happened and it altered the way she talks and engages with the world.'
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