Several Harry Potter stars including Eddie Redmayne appear to have taken a swipe at JK Rowling by signing an open letter expressing “solidarity” with transgender people.
It comes after the children’s author backed a controversial Supreme Court ruling earlier this month which declared that trans females are not women.
Rowling, 59, celebrated the ruling by posting a picture of herself holding a drink and puffing a cigar with the caption: “I love it when a plan comes together.”
Redmayne, star of the Fantastic Beasts films, along with Katie Leung who played Cho Chang in the film series, and Charlotte Ritchie, who played a student in The Goblet of Fire, have all signed the letter in support of trans people.
Paapa Essiedu, who has been cast as Severus Snape in the upcoming TV adaptation of the Harry Potter books, also signed the letter.
Signatories said: “We believe the ruling undermines the lived reality and threatens the safety of trans, non-binary, and intersex people living in the UK.”
The letter called for institutions including the BBC and Bafta to join them in “condemning” the Supreme Court ruling, saying they should use “their public platforms to make meaningful commitments to protecting trans, non-binary and intersex members, talent and staff from discrimination within their respective organisations”.
On April 17, the Supreme Court ruled that the legal definition of “man” and “woman” should be based on “biological sex”, concluding that any other definition would be “incoherent and unworkable”.
The case was brought by a group called For Women Scotland (FWS), which challenged the Scottish government’s definition of “women” in a law governing gender representation on public bards.
However, others argue that the Supreme Court’s ruling has created as many questions as it has answers.
Jolyon Maugham, founder of The Good Law Project told The Standard: "To say these questions have no easy answers is to understate the difficulty - they don't have any answers at all.”
I love it when a plan comes together.#SupremeCourt #WomensRights pic.twitter.com/agOkWmhPgb
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 16, 2025
The letter adds: “Film and television are powerful tools for empathy and education, and we believe passionately in the ability of the screen to change hearts and minds.
“This is our opportunity to be on the right side of history.”
Responding to the Supreme Court ruling on April 16, Rowling wrote: “It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the UK. @ForWomenScot, I’m so proud to know you.”
She reportedly donated tens of thousands of pounds to back FWS’s work.
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who played the lead roles in the original Harry Potter franchise have previously distanced themselves from the author’s gender-critical views.
