Pedro Pascal brands JK Rowling a 'heinous loser' for her cigar-smoking celebration of the Supreme Court trans ruling - as he joins calls for a Harry Potter boycott
The actor, whose sister Lux recently came out as a transgender woman, shared the scathing remark under an Instagram post from activist Tariq Ra'ouf that was calling for a boycott of any future Harry Potter projects.
It came after Pedro showed his support for the transgender community by proudly wearing a T-shirt boasting the slogan Protect The Dolls, while he attended the premiere of Thunderbolts in London on Tuesday.
Justices in London ruled last week that in the 2010 Equality Act, the definition of the term 'women' relates only to biological women.
Multi-millionaire author Rowling, who reportedly helped fund the women's rights campaign group which brought the Supreme Court case, shared a photo online from on board her $150 million superyacht puffing a cigar in celebration.
In Tariq's video, he called for his viewers to ensure that 'every single thing that's Harry Potter-related fails,' before branding Rowling's celebration 'awful and disgusting.'
He said: 'It has become our mission as the general public to make sure that every single thing that's Harry Potter related fails...because that awful disgusting s**t, that has consequences.'
As well as liking the video, Pedro also shared a defiant comment, writing: 'Awful disgusting S**T is exactly right. Heinous LOSER behavior.'
It's not the first time Pedro has shown his support for the transgender community after earlier this year he posted the quote: 'a world without trans people has never existed and never will' on Instagram.
He added in his caption: 'I can't think of anything more vile and small and pathetic than terrorising the smallest, most vulnerable community of people who want nothing from you, except the right to exist.'
Pedro's sister Lux is also transgender, 32, after coming out and transitioning back in 2021.
The actor has previously admitted he's fiercely protective of his sister, and he's won praise from fans for his LGBTQ advocacy.
However, he admits that Lux is a 'powerful' personality and doesn't need to rely on him for supporting, saying: 'I need her more than she needs me.'
He told Esquire: 'I wouldn't want to speak on her behalf but she is and has always been one of the most powerful people and personalities I've ever known. My protective side is lethal, but I need her more than she needs me.'
Last Wednesday, the UK's Supreme Court ruled that the definition of a woman is based on biological sex, meaning transgender women are not considered to be women in the eyes of the law.
The landmark ruling ruling means trans women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) could potentially be excluded from single-sex spaces if 'proportionate'.
The ruling has caused much controversy among various groups, with transgender activists left furious.
Rowling's views, which have resurged again after last week's Supreme Court gender ruling, have prompted many of the stars who acquired fame and fortune through the Harry Potter franchise to either support or condemn her.
Leading actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have all famously distanced themselves from Rowling and spoke out in support of the transgender community and gender ideology amid a storm of backlash against the author in 2020.
Hitting back at accusations he was ungrateful for his success, Radcliffe insisted he doesn't owe her 'the things he truly believes', while Watson said transgender people deserved to 'live their lives without being constantly questioned, with Grint also echoing her sentiments.
But other stars have expressed their horror over Rowling's treatment, with Robbie Coltrane insisting nothing she said was 'offensive' in 2020, while Ralph Fiennes said he couldn't understand the 'vitriol' directed at her in 2021, and in 2022, Helena Bonham Carter argued Rowling had been 'hounded' and was entitled to her opinion.
Judges ruled that trans women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) can be excluded from single-sex spaces if 'proportionate'.
It marks the culmination of a long-running legal battle between the Scottish government and women's group For Women Scotland over the definition of a 'woman' in Scottish law.
The case centred on whether somebody with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) recognising their gender as female should be protected from discrimination as a woman under the Equality Act.
The Scottish government had argued that such people were entitled to sex-based protections, meaning a transgender person with a GRC certificate identifying them as female would count towards women's quota.
But campaign group For Women Scotland claimed they only applied to people born female.
The Supreme Court has now ruled that the words 'sex', 'man' and 'woman' in the Equality Act must mean 'biological sex', rejecting any alternative interpretations as 'incoherence and impracticable'.
Rowling reacted last Wednesday by posting on X: 'It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they've protected the rights of women and girls across the UK. @ForWomenScot, I'm so proud to know you.'
She later added: 'Trans people have lost zero rights today, although I don't doubt some (not all) will be furious that the Supreme Court upheld women's sex-based rights.'
In their 88-page ruling, the justices said: 'The definition of sex in the Equality Act 2010 makes clear that the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man.'
They stated: 'A person with a Gender Recognition Certificate in the female gender does not come within the definition of a 'woman' under the Equality Act 2010 and the statutory guidance issued by the Scottish ministers is incorrect.'
Supporters of Rowling's stance have used social media to accuse the young Harry Potter stars - who played the central trio of pupils in the movie franchise - of 'disloyalty'.
Yet others have leapt to their defence, praising their previous comments on gender rights and saying they did not owe her anything more.
One poster wrote: 'Who had ever heard of Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, or Daniel Radcliffe before JK Rowling made them millionaires?'
But another said: 'Are actors contractually obliged to support the personal political beliefs of authors that wrote something a film they're in is based on?'
Rowling's evident disagreement with Radcliffe had begun after she called out an article that used the phrase 'people who menstruate' instead of women, writing: 'I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?'
Shortly afterwards, Radcliffe penned an article for an LGBT+ suicide prevention charity in which he insisted that 'transgender women are women'.
He told The Atlantic last April that he had not spoken to Rowling for years, which upset him, but would not heed her call suggesting he should apologise to detransitioners harmed by puberty blockers.
Radcliffe has spoken out in the past to say adults are 'condescending' for expressing misgivings over gender transitioning in children.
His comments seemed a barbed reference to Rowling's tweets from June 2020 in which she ridiculed an article's description of women as 'people who menstruate'.
In response at the time, Radcliffe hit out at the author, saying: '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'.
In March the following year, he explained his decision to voice his opposition to Rowling's comments saying that while he has 'huge respect' for the author, he can still disagree with her views.
Last year's official report by Dr Hilary Cass made a series of recommendations to overhaul NHS trans services to improve the care that children receive.
She ruled there was a 'lack of high-quality research' on the effects of giving children puberty blockers and hormones, and recommended that NHS England establish its own research programme.
The report also called for the creation a separate service for those wanting to 'de-transition', where a gender transition is stopped or reversed.
Rowling was criticised in 2018 after she liked a tweet describing trans women as 'men in dresses' - with her spokesperson at the time describing the 'like' as a 'mistake', calling it a 'clumsy middle-aged moment'.
But the author has since embarked on a campaign seeking to protect what she describes as women's rights, fuelled by her own experiences of domestic abuse.
That campaign has seen her oppose legislation in Scotland that sought to make it easier for trans people to change their legal gender, and she has provided financial support to those fighting court cases challenging the legal status of trans people.
In a lengthy 3,600-word statement on her website published in 2020, she said her stance on trans rights was drawn from her experiences of abuse and sexual assault.
She wrote: 'When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he's a woman... then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth.'
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