JK Rowling appears to have accused Harry Potter’s three former child stars of “ruining” the movie franchise.
The best-selling author, 59, was branded “transphobic” by activists in 2020 and criticised by the film’s stars, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.
Now, she has seemingly targeted the former child actors with whom she once had a close relationship.
On Tuesday, responding to a tweet on X that said “What actor/actress instantly ruins a movie for you?”, the author wrote: “Three guesses. Sorry, but that was irresistible.”
She added three laughing emojis to her post, which garnered more than 10 million views and 56,000 likes in a single day.
Rowling, who once said she would rather go to jail than refer to a trans person by their preferred pronouns, first publicly voiced her opinion five years ago, when she mocked a brand which used the term “people who menstruate” instead of “woman” in an article.
It provoked an immediate backlash, including from Radcliffe, who played the titular role in the Harry Potter movies.
He wrote an open letter through The Trevor Project, an LGBT charity, that said: “Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people.
“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.”
Watson, who played Hermione Granger, wrote on X: “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.
“I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”
Finally, Ron Weasley actor Grint released a formal statement saying: “I firmly stand with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers. Trans women are women. Trans men are men.
“We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgement.”
Rowling has previously said she would not forgive the Harry Potter actors for criticising her trans rights views, telling them last year to “save their apologies” for “traumatised detransitioners”.
She wrote on X: “Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single-sex spaces.”
Now, she appears to have renewed the public disagreement with the trio of stars on social media.
In 2020, when Rowling was first accused of being transphobic for her views on the issue, she clarified her comments, adding: “Erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives.”
She has since become one of the most prominent gender-critical voices in the public sphere.
Top comments on her X post on Tuesday included support for the author, with one person writing: “Three guesses? 1. The same people who made millions off your work, then turned on you when it was ‘cool’”.
Another remarked: “All they had to do was say nothing and no one would know the depths of their arrogance and ingratitude.”
“I wouldn’t be sorry. Their lives changed thanks to your work, and how do they repay you? Betrayal,” someone else added.
Warner Bros, the studio that made the films, has defended Rowling’s “right to express her personal views” amid the prolonged row.
