One former Harry Potter star has defended J.K. Rowling and said that anger towards the author over her views about transgender people are "misplaced."
Miriam Margolyes who played Professor Pomona Sprout in the Harry Potter films has come out in support of Rowling and described her as a "generous woman."
Rowling has been embroiled in a number of controversies over her views about the transgender community and several actors associated with the Harry Potter franchise have publicly disagreed with her, including Daniel Radcliffe, Eddie Redmayne and Emma Watson.
The author has denied feeling negatively toward transgender people. The accusations of transphobia stem from June 2020 when she took to Twitter to criticize an op-ed piece that discussed "people who menstruate," rather than using the term "women."
Prior to this, Rowling made headlines in 2019, when she publicly supported Maya Forstater, a U.K. tax specialist who was fired over tweets that were deemed to be anti-trans.
She also penned a lengthy blog post in 2020 which explained her views on transgender people which have been deemed controversial.
Now, in an interview with the Radio Times, Margolyes said, "There isn't one answer to all these trans questions."
"We all know people who are slightly pansy or a bit butch or whatever you call it," she told the magazine. "But I think the vituperation that J.K. Rowling has received is misplaced."
Margoyles noted that she doesn't know Rowling "at all" but said she admires "her as a human being. She's a generous woman, she's a brilliant writer."
The actress added that if people were kinder to others, "a lot of the misery would disappear."
She also said that she would be happy to mediate between J.K. Rowling and Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films.
"I would if anybody asked me," she said.
Watson previously tweeted support for the trans community, shortly after Rowling published her blog on the subject.
"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," Watson tweeted at the time.
Back in 2020, Margolyes spoke out in support of trans people following Rowling's comments.
"She [Rowling] has a rather conservative view of transgender people. I don't think I do," she told The Times at the time.
"I can't make it out. It's a matter of personal happiness for people and I think that's what you should concentrate on," she added. "If you seriously want to become a woman you should be allowed to. You can't be fascist about it. I think it's confusing."
"But if the reaction is that crazy, we have to be very careful that we know what we're talking about," Mikkelsen said in an interview with GQ.
He confirmed that he had not read Rowling's blog where she had written on the issue and added: "I have a habit of not commenting on things that I don't know anything about, and I actually think that that would suit the entire world."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
