Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has shared a lengthy social media post in response to some recent comments from Hermione Granger actress Emma Watson, and the controversial writer did not sugarcoat her feelings.
Rowling has become a highly divisive figure since her feelings on gender and the trans community were made public some years ago, and she has continued to further alienate herself from her once loyal fan base with what many perceive to be anti-trans rhetoric.
Watson spoke for the first time about her complicated relationship with Rowling during a sit-down interview on the On Purpose With Jay Shetty podcast.
“I really don’t believe that by having had that experience and holding the love and support and views that I have, mean that I can’t and don’t treasure Jo and the person that I had personal experiences with,” Watson said. “I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person, I don’t get to keep and cherish. To come back to our earlier thing — I just don’t think these things are either or. I think 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 added, “I think the thing I’m most upset about is that a conversation was never made possible.” When Shetty asked if she remained open to having that dialogue, Watson replied, “Yeah, and I always will. I believe in that. I believe in that completely.”
Nothing particularly unreasonable or incendiary there, and some believe Watson may have actually been a little too diplomatic. Rowling, evidently, did not.
“Like other people who’ve never experienced adult life un-cushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is,” Rowling wrote in her X post. “She’ll never need a homeless shelter. She’s never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward. I’d be astounded if she’s been in a high street changing room since childhood. Her ‘public bathroom’ is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door. Has she had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool? Is she ever likely to need a state-run rape crisis centre that refuses to guarantee an all-female service? To find herself sharing a prison cell with a male rapist who’s identified into the women’s prison?”
"I wasn't a multimillionaire at fourteen, I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous," Rowling went on. "I therefore understand from my own life experience what the trashing of women's rights in which Emma has so enthusiastically participated means to women and girls without her privileges."
You can check out her post in full below.