Trans

Jonathan Ross’ daughter Honey eviscerates JK Rowling for tone deaf tirade against trans people amid Black Lives Matter protests

Honey Ross (L) and Jonathan Ross. (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)

Honey Ross (L) and Jonathan Ross. (Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images)

Jonathan Ross’ daughter, Honey Ross, shared a pair of stringing rebukes against JK Rowling’s recent Twitter comments on trans people.

Honey Ross, a screenwriter and body image activist, shared two posts on her Instagram story Sunday night (June 7) that dealt a swift broadside against the Harry Potter author’s explosive remarks. But her stance on the debate engulfing Rowling might chafe against her father.

On the same night, Jonathan Ross took to Twitter to defend Rowling from accusations of “transphobia”. He reasoned that Rowling – whose words suggested trans people are not constantly being “discriminated” against for being trans — was in the “right”.

“For those accusing her of transphobia,” he continued, “please read what she wrote. She clearly is not.”

In a contrasting scene, Honey Ross uploaded two Instagram posts that reacted unfavourably to Rowling’s tweets.

Jonathan Ross’ daughter Honey shares tweets and images critical of JK Rowling. 

One was a screen capture of a tweet by i-D junior editor Róisín Laingan that read: “JK Rowling really look at a world protesting en masse against racism and police brutality and said: ‘You know what, this is the perfect time to use my platform to remind everyone I hate trans people?'”

(Screen capture via Instagram)

Honey also posted on Instagram an edited version of the front cover of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, retitled: “Harry Potter and the Audacity of This B***h.”

(Screen capture via Instagram)

She later amplified Munroe Bergdorf’s takedown against Rowling, who castigated the author as a “wealthy white woman tweeting transphobia from [her] mansion”.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBITunNA7Jj/

These were all a polar opposite reaction to that of Jonathan Ross, whose efforts to diffuse backlash brewing against Rowling in itself became a lightning rod for criticism from the LGBT+ community.

So, what did JK Rowling actually tweet about trans people?

Amid a series of cascading tinderbox issues, from the coronavirus pandemic to the Black Lives Matter demonstrations, decided Saturday (June 6) was the perfect time to tweet about trans folk — less than a week into LGBT+ Pride Month.

The author took to Twitter where she focused a thread on her views of sex and gender in relation to trans people that sparked fury online.

Rowling’s thread was first seeded earlier that evening, when she shared an article in Devex, the media platform for the global development community, with the headline: “Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.”

“‘People who menstruate,'” she responded. “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

In the avalanche of tweets that followed, she sought to reassure her 14.5 million followers that she “knows and loves trans people” and claimed that the idea she hates trans people is “nonsense”.

“I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them,” she wrote.

“I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans.”

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