STEPHEN Fry has said JK Rowling has been “radicalised by TERFs” as he hit out at the Harry Potter author’s “cruel” comments about transgender people.
The TV presenter and comic described the bestselling writer, whose net worth reportedly stands at £945 million, as a “lost cause” because of her views.
Fry has historically been wary of wading into the transgender debate but has now come out to say he disagrees “profoundly” with Rowling’s views.
He narrated the audiobooks for the whole Harry Potter series and said he was “sorry” about his rift with Rowling over the issue.
Fry told The Show People podcast last week that he previously enjoyed Rowling’s company but said her gender critical views had “completely altered the way she talks and engages with the world now”.
He said: “She has been radicalised I fear and it may be she has been radicalised by TERFs, but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her.
“It is unhelpful and only hardens her and will only continue to harden her I am afraid. I am not saying that she not be called out when she says things that are really cruel, wrong and mocking. She seems to be a lost cause for us.”
Terf stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist and is used as an insult by pro-trans activists.
Fry, who formerly hosted the quiz show QI, added: “She started to make these peculiar statements and had very strong difficult views. She seemed to wake up or kick a hornet's nest of transphobia which has been entirely destructive.
“I disagree profoundly with her on this subject. I am angry she does not disavow some of the more revolting and truly horrible, destructive violently destructive things that people say. She does not attack those at all.
“She says things that are inflammatory and contemptuous, mocking and add to a terribly distressing time for trans people.”
On Rowling’s interventions in Scottish politics, which has been at the centre of UK-wide debates about trans rights, Fry said: “She has crowed at the success of legislation in Scotland and elsewhere declaring things about gender.
“So I am very happy to go on the record to say that I am really angry about that.”
Fry expressed regret about how Rowling (below) had changed, as he saw it. “I am sorry because I always liked her company,” he said.
“I found her charming, funny and interesting and then this thing happened and it completely altered the way she talks and engages with the world now.”
Fry, who is himself gay, previously faced criticism from parts of the LGBTQ+ community for not being more strident in his comments about the trans rights debate.
In 2022, he called for both sides to stop fighting one another, saying: “There is no winner.”
He previously described Rowling as a “friend”, adding: “I have trans friends and intersex friends who are deeply upset by her. That is a circle I have to square personally.”
Fry added that he did not intend to “abandon” friendships.
