J.Okay Rowling has been in a feud with the solid of Harry Potter for years — particularly its stars Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe — over the writer’s feedback in regards to the transgender group. Just lately, Rowling shared a prolonged response to Watson’s September 2025 Jay Shetty podcast interview, during which she was requested about her distant relationship with the wizarding world mastermind.
“Emma Watson and her co-stars have each proper to embrace gender identification ideology. Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn’t wish to see any of them threatened with lack of work, or violence, or loss of life, due to them,” Rowling tweeted. “Nonetheless, Emma and Dan specifically have each made it clear over the previous few years that they assume our former skilled affiliation offers them a selected proper – nay, obligation – to critique me and my views in public. Years after they completed performing in Potter, they proceed to imagine the position of de facto spokespeople for the world I created.”
So, how did this icy feud begin between Rowling, Radcliffe and Watson? Hollywood Life breaks all of it down under.
Why Is J.Okay. Rowling in a Feud With Emma Watson & Daniel Radcliffe?
Rowling’s feud with Watson and Radcliffe stems from her place on the transgender commuting. The author believes that any one who was a person at start shouldn’t be allowed into girls’s restrooms or altering rooms as a result of they determine as a lady. Many accused her of being transphobic, which she denied.
The Harry Potter writer clarified in a 2020 essay that she “need[s] trans girls to be protected,” however “on the identical time, [she does] not wish to make natal women and girls much less protected.”
Elsewhere within the essay, Rowling wrote, “I imagine the vast majority of trans-identified individuals not solely pose zero menace to others, however are weak for all the explanations I’ve outlined.”
Radcliffe and Watson shortly spoke out in opposition to Rowling’s notion. In a press release with the Trevor Venture, Radcliffe credited Rowling with catapulting him to stardom however disagreed together with her opinion by writing, “Transgender girls are girls.”
“Any assertion on the contrary erases the identification and dignity of transgender individuals and goes in opposition to all recommendation given by skilled well being care associations who’ve much more experience on this subject material than both Jo or I,” the Broadway alum wrote.
What Has J.Okay. Rowling Mentioned About Emma Watson & Daniel Radcliffe?
Rowling has made it clear that she disagrees with Radcliffe and Watson over time. In 2025, Watson was requested about her relationship with Rowling throughout an “On Objective” podcast interview.
Watson emphasised that she “treasure[s]” her recollections with Rowling however famous her disagreement with the author’s notion of the trans group.
“There may be simply no world during which I may ever cancel her out for, or cancel that out, for something. It has to stay true — it’s true,” the Magnificence and the Beast actress stated. “I feel the factor I’m most upset about is {that a} dialog was by no means made attainable.”
I am seeing fairly a little bit of remark about this, so I wish to make a few factors.
I am not owed everlasting settlement from any actor who as soon as performed a personality I created. The thought is as ludicrous as me checking with the boss I had after I was twenty-one for what opinions I ought to… https://t.co/c0pz19P7jc
— J.Okay. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 29, 2025
Rowling, in flip, slammed Watson as “ignorant” in a prolonged X publish, alleging that the actress had beforehand given her a non-public observe in regards to the uproar over her opinion in regards to the transgender group.
“Emma requested somebody to go on a handwritten observe from her to me, which contained the only sentence ‘I’m so sorry for what you’re going via’ (she has my telephone quantity),” Rowling claimed. “This was again when the loss of life, rape and torture threats in opposition to me had been at their peak, at a time when my private safety measures had needed to be tightened significantly, and I used to be continuously anxious for my household’s security. Emma had simply publicly poured extra petrol on the flames, but thought a one line expression of concern from her would reassure me of her elementary sympathy and kindness.”
Rowling continued, “The best irony right here is that, had Emma not determined in her most up-to-date interview to declare that she loves and treasures me – a change of tack I believe she’s adopted as a result of she’s seen full-throated condemnation of me is not fairly as trendy because it was – I’d by no means have been this trustworthy.”
