Harry Potter star Rupert Grint ‘respects’ but ‘disagrees with’ JK Rowling after trans rights row
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Harry Potter star Rupert Grint has opened up about speaking out in support of the trans community after JK Rowling‘s controversial comments over trans rights.
Grint, who played Ron Weasley in the iconic movie series, said has “huge respect” for Rowling but ‘still disagrees’ with her comments about trans people.
In June 2020, Rowling retweeted an op-ed that discussed “people who menstruate”, and she took issue with the fact the article did not use the word women. She then tweeted to her millions of followers: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
She then doubled down on her comments about trans people and shared an essay on Twitter alongside the caption “TERF wars”.
Rupert Grint joined his Harry Potter co-stars Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe in defending trans people after JK Rowling published a lengthy essay laying out her “gender critical opinions”. The actor said at the time: “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.”
In a recent interview with Esquire, Grint said his statement was purposeful and deliberate although he is “hugely grateful [for] everything that she’s done” in creating the role he’s best known for.
“I think that she’s extremely talented, and I mean, clearly, her works are genius,” Grint told Esquire. “But I think also you can have huge respect for someone and still disagree with things like that.”
He went on to say that he felt compelled to speak out against Rowling at the time because “it was important to” say something. Grint added that while he was “not an authority” on the debate, he felt he had a responsibility to speak out as “sometimes silence is even louder”.
“Just out of kindness and just respecting people,” Rupert Grint said. “I think it’s a valuable group that I think needs standing up for.”
After JK Rowling published her now infamous ‘TERF wars’ essay last year, other Harry Potter actors leapt to the defence of trans people including Bonnie Wright, Evanna Lynch, Chris Rankin and Katie Leung.
