The leading star of the Wizarding World Daniel Radcliffe was among the first people to speak out against J.K. Rowling in 2020 following the Harry Potter author’s insensitive comments towards transgender people, and now, with the benefit of hindsight backing his comments, the actor is reflecting on why it was important to issue that condemnatory statement.
Recently chatting with IndieWire (per Variety), here’s what the Weird: The Al Yankovic Story star had to say about those comments in 2020 and why he felt the need to admonish Rowling in the way he did.
“The reason I felt very, very much as though I needed to say something when I did was because, particularly since finishing Potter, I’ve met so many queer and trans kids and young people who had a huge amount of identification with Potter on that. And so seeing them hurt on that day I was like, I wanted them to know that not everybody in the franchise felt that way. And that was really important.”
Radcliffe published his statement on The Trevor Project, which means something to him since he’s worked with the non-profit organization for more than a decade.
“It was really important as I’ve worked with the Trevor Project for more than 10 years, and so I don’t think I would’ve been able to look myself in the mirror had I not said anything. But it’s not mine to guess what’s going on in someone else’s head.”
If anything, the overwhelming wave of backlash has only made J.K. Rowling double down on her harmful beliefs. The negative maelstrom of controversy is so far-reaching, in fact, that many fans have decided to boycott Harry Potter as a result of these remarks.
As for Daniel Radcliffe, the thespian has garnered a lot of acclaim for appearing in a number of smaller artistic projects, and the latest Weird Al biopic, releasing in two days on the Roku Channel, is the perfect case in point for this foray.
