Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has publicly responded to actress Emma Watson’s remarks about her during a recent podcast appearance.
In a new post on X, Rowling addressed Watson’s comments on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast, where Watson said that while she does not agree with Rowling’s views on transgender issues, she does not want to “cancel” the author.
“It’s my deepest wish that I hope people who don’t agree with my opinion will love me, and I hope I can keep loving people who I don’t necessarily share the same opinion with,” Watson said. She had previously spoken out against Rowling in 2020.
Rowling, in her post on September 29, wrote, “Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn't want to see any of them threatened with loss of work, or violence, or death, because of them. However, Emma and Dan [Radcliffe] in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right—nay, obligation—to critique me and my views in public.”
The author further accused Watson and Radcliffe of assuming “the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created.” She recalled Watson’s BAFTA 2022 remark about being “here for all witches” as a “turning point” in their relationship, and alleged that Watson had attempted to send her a letter of apology at the time.
Rowling claimed that during Watson’s public comments “poured more petrol on the flames” despite the actor’s private expression of sympathy. She went on to describe Watson as having “so little experience of real life she's ignorant of how ignorant she is.”
“The greatest irony here is that, had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me… I might never have been this honest,” Rowling wrote. “Adults can't expect to cosy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend's assassination, then assert their right to the former friend's love, as though the friend was in fact their mother.”
Rowling shared a video mocking Watson, posted last week.
Watson has not publicly responded as of publication.