Actor Robbie Coltrane has waded into the JK Rowling transgender debate, saying he doesn’t find the author's views offensive and believes her “haters” need to wise up.
The Scots star says he is puzzled why Rowling was criticised for being transphobic after implying on Twitter that only biological women menstruate.
Despite sparking outrage from LGBT charities and some of his Harry Potter co-stars, Robbie, 70, says people are too easily offended.
In an interview with the Radio Times, the Cracker actor said: “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’.
“I don’t want to get involved in all of that because of all the hate mail and all that s***, which I don’t need at my time of life.”
Robbie is one of the few Harry Potter stars who have defended Rowling’s comments, with leading actors Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson all condemning her views.
The Rutherglen-born actor played Professor Rubeus Hagrid in the Potter franchise and is set to portray Orson Welles in Sky Arts comedy drama F for Fakenham.
He said: “My life’s not as wild as it used to be. I still like to drive my 65 Mustang at ridiculous speeds and things like that, that’s never going to leave me, but I’m a 70-year-old man.”
