Hagrid actor Robbie Coltrane backs JK Rowling, claiming her critics just ‘hang around waiting to be offended’
Robbie Coltrane suggested people are too easily offended by JK Rowling (Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty/Warner Bros/YouTube)
Harry Potter star Robbie Coltrane has defended JK Rowling against the latest accusations of transphobia, arguing that her critics simply “hang around waiting to be offended”.
The row over the author’s controversial trans views erupted once again after she announced a new book about a cis male serial killer who dresses as a woman to kill his cis female victims.
But Coltrane, who played groundskeeper Rubeus Hagrid in the films, said that he didn’t find Rowling’s views offensive and can’t see why anyone would.
The 70-year-old actor told Radio Times: “I don’t think what she said was offensive really. I don’t know why but there’s a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended.
“They wouldn’t have won the war, would they? That’s me talking like a grumpy old man, but you just think, ‘Oh, get over yourself. Wise up, stand up straight and carry on.'”
He then said he did not want to go further because: “I don’t want to get involved in all of that because of all the hate mail and all that s**t, which I don’t need at my time of life.”
Robbie Coltrane at the world premiere Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2 (John Phillips/UK Press/Getty)
Coltrane is one of the few Harry Potter stars to defend Rowling’s comments, with leading actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Eddie Redmayne, Bonnie Wright, Evanna Lynch, Chris Rankin and Katie Leung all condemning her views. Despite this, JK Rowling has insisted she is not transphobic.
Daniel Radcliffe made his unwavering support for trans equality clear in a blog for LGBT+ charity The Trevor Project.
“While Jo is unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken… I feel compelled to say something at this moment,” he said.
“Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”
He added that he was “deeply sorry” to those whose experience of Harry Potter had been “tarnished or diminished” by JK Rowling, and urged fans to keep hold of the value they found in the stories.
