The war of words between Harry Potter creator JK Rowling and Game of Thrones alum Pedro Pascal escalated to the next stage as the author retaliated to a jab by the Chilean actor.
Pascal, after reposting a call to boycott all things Harry Potter and Rowling, calling the pro-women’s-rights billionaire a “heinous loser,” and doubling down on his stance in an interview with Vogue, found himself on the receiving end of an offhanded slight.
Rowling’s retaliation came after LGBTQ+ outlet Gayety celebrated Pascal’s outspokenness.
The fracas started when Pedro weighed in on a call to boycott everything Rowling
The outlet advocating for non-binary individuals, in response to the back and forth, headlined: “Pedro Pascal Shuts Down Rowling, Defends Trans Rights…” on June 25.
The so-called “shut down” it was referring to transpired after Pascal vented on an Instagram call to action by an individual by the name of Tariq Raouf.
In the video, Raouf pointed at a Picture of Rowling and said: “This is some serious Voldemort villain sh*t.
“JK Rowling is reveling in the fact that she helped the UK Supreme Court get to the point where they can define that trans women are not women legally.”
Rauof went on to say that she was attacking one of the world’s smallest groups that were already misunderstood.
He doubled down on his stance in an interview afterwards
Can’t say I feel very shut down, but keep at it, Pedro. God loves a trier. pic.twitter.com/xuyRGiquLx
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 28, 2025
Pascal took to the comment thread, saying, “Awful disgusting SH*T is exactly right. Heinous LOSER behavior.”
Testifying to the fact that the statement was not merely a shot fired in anger, the actor doubled down on his stance in an interview with Vanity Fair on June 24, he called the author a bully.
He also took a moment for introspection and said:
“Am I helping? Am I f*cking helping? It’s a situation that deserves the utmost elegance so that something can actually happen, and people will actually be protected.”
JK Rowling only retaliated when a publication claimed she had been shut down
Rowling never retaliated to the remarks made by the 50-year-old who has a transgender sibling, Lux, and this is perhaps what led to Gayety seeing Pascal as victorious
Rowling, however, would not let the outlet’s perception slide.
Captioning a repost of the publication’s headline imposed over a picture of Pascal, the author wrote: “Can’t say I feel very shut down, but keep at it, Pedro. God loves a trier.”
The stab was met with criticism and support alike.
Her post was met with fury in the comment thread
“As someone who wrote a fantasy series of books centered around the importance of love, it being the common thread that’s woven [through] us all and connects us, you sure can be clueless about it at times,” observed one user.
“You must (feel shutdown),” quipped another. “You seem to get mad at all these people who aren’t sexist and transphobic *ssholes but claim they don’t bother you.”
“Thanks for being an open and compassionate human Pedro,” echoed another.
“I don’t think Joanne is going [to] budge in the acceptance category. Shame, humans are humans and love is love.”
But her quip did not go unsupported
Not all of the fire was directed at Rowling. Some of her supporters weighed in, too.
“Being pro-women’s rights doesn’t make JKR anti-trans. The inability to hold both truths is not the win some think it is. The era of men telling women to sit down for having boundaries is done, even if the man IS Pedro,” said one netizen in defense of the author.
“Pedro is irrevocably damaged as a human, best he sticks to playing the game of acting to disassociate from reality, and keep his bizarre insights to himself,” quipped another person with the title “sister”—presumably a nun.
“Where is the weird push for this guy coming from? It’s so sudden and it’s everywhere. Is this the paragon of virtue signaling they are sending out to battle the evil witch of women’s rights?” wrote one person, apparently surprised at Pascal’s activism.
Pedro is loved and hated by both sides
