JK Rowling has torn into “ignorant” Emma Watson for using her Harry Potter link to criticise her gender critical views – and rejected the former child star’s claim that she treasures her despite their differences.
Watson and her former co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint are vocal advocates for trans rights and, in the last five years, have condemned Rowling’s controversial comments that have been criticised as transphobic.
Rowling has now issued a lengthy statement in which she branded the Hermione Granger actor “ignorant” as she has “never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame” – and accused the star of “pouring more petrol on the flames” of the abuse she receives.
Days after Watson, 35, said she would be open to speaking with Rowling again, the author wrote on Twitter (X): “Adults can’t expect to cosy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend’s assassination, then assert their right to the former friend’s love, as though the friend was in fact their mother.
Last week, Watson said that her disagreement with Rowling doesn’t mean that she “can’t treasure Jo and the person that I had personal experiences with”.
But Rowling said she “suspects” the actor’s “change of tack” is due to her belief that the “full-throated condemnation” against her has calmed in recent months.
Rowling said that “Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology”, but added: “Emma and Dan in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right – nay, obligation – to critique me and my views in public.
“Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created.”
Rowling said Watson’s apparent jibe at Rowling at the Baftas in 2022 was “a turning point”.
At the ceremony, when host Rebel Wilson introduced the Harry Potter star to the stage, she said: “Here to present the next award is Emma Watson. She calls herself a feminist, but we all know she’s a witch.” Watson then emphasised: “I’m here for all the witches!”
However, Rowling said she was left more hurt by a personalised note she received from the actor soon after the event.
“Emma asked someone to pass on a handwritten note from her to me, which contained the single sentence ‘I’m so sorry for what you’re going through’ (she has my phone number). This was back when the death, rape and torture threats against me were at their peak, at a time when my personal security measures had had to be tightened considerably and I was constantly worried for my family’s safety.
“Emma had just publicly poured more petrol on the flames, yet thought a one-line expression of concern from her would reassure me of her fundamental sympathy and kindness.”
She suggested that Watson did not share her views because she had lived a sheltered life thanks to her Harry Potter success.
“Emma has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is,” she wrote.
“I wasn’t a multimillionaire at 14,” she wrote. “I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous.”
The Independent has contacted Watson for comment.
