19-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
JK Rowling ‘takes aim' at Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint in sarcastic post
JK Rowling has appeared to to take a swipe at Harry Potter leads Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint in her latest move on social media.
The 59-year-old author is prolific for her X/Twitter spats, drawing backlash over the years for her political and personal views.
Rowling's Harry Potter franchise has gone on to become a billion-dollar enterprise, complete with blockbuster movies, merchandise, a theme park and a forthcoming HBO series. But her relationship with the movies' lead actors Radcliffe (Potter), Watson (Hermione Granger) and Grint (Ron Weasley) has become increasingly fraught over the years as they have expressed their discomfort with her views.
On Tuesday (18 March), Rowling X/Twitter account @tradingMaxiSL asked: 'What actor/actress instantly ruins a movie for you?'
Rowling responded: 'Three guesses. Sorry, but that was irresistible.' She added laughing-face emojis to indicate she was being sarcastic.
The comments have been widely interpreted as a dig at the film's three main actors. 'Three guesses? The same people who made millions off your work, then turned on you when it was 'cool',' one person hit out.
Others defended the author, with one writing: 'The sad thing is at least two of the three would have never been more than character actors! You gave them the throne they use to look down on you! What will they do as the 'trans 15 minutes' winds down?'
However, one person said: 'They ruined the movies for you, but you ruined everything else for everyone else, at least for those with beating hearts.'
Rowling first made her stance on transgender women public in December 2019 when she tweeted in support of researcher Maya Forstater, whose job contract at think-tank Centre for Global Development was not renewed due to a series of tweets she had made questioning government plans to allow people to self-identify as another gender.
These initial remarks prompted backlash from fans of the author, who labelled Rowling a 'terf' – an acronym that stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist.
The author, who has denied being transphobic, but previously stated she would rather go to jail than refer to a trans person by their preferred pronouns, went on to post a much-maligned essay about gender identity ideology on her website.
Last year Radcliffe revealed he had not spoken to the author in years.
'It makes me really sad, ultimately,' he said, 'because I do look at the person that I met, the times that we met, and the books that she wrote, and the world that she created, and all of that is to me so deeply empathic.'
