Harry Potter star Sean Biggerstaff has savaged JK Rowling on social media, calling her an ‘obsessed billionaire’ and ‘bigoted’ for her views on transgender rights.
The Harry Potter author, 59, has repeatedly made headlines for her vocal ‘TERF’ views and has celebrated the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment that trans women are not legally women.
Justices in London ruled last week that in the 2010 Equality Act, the definition of the term ‘women’ relates only to biological women, and Rowling reportedly helped fund the campaign group which brought the case.
Amid widespread protests following the ruling, Harry Potter actor Biggerstaff – who portrayed Oliver Wood in three of the movies – has passionately condemned Rowling.
Biggerstaff showed his solidarity with the wizarding franchise’s leading stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who have all spoken out against Rowling.
He starred alongside the trio in first two Harry Potter movies – The Philosopher’s Stone and the Chamber of Secrets – and returned for a brief, uncredited cameo in the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
Harry Potter star Sean Biggerstaff (pictured at a signing in February) has savaged JK Rowling on social media, calling her out for her ‘bigoted’ views on transgender rights
Biggerstaff showed his solidarity with the wizarding franchise’s leading stars Daniel Radcliffe (both pictured), Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who have all spoken out against Rowling
Though distancing himself from Rowling herself and forthrightly speaking out against her, Biggerstaff remains involved with the wider Harry Potter universe and often attends fan conventions, doing so as recently as February of this year.
In his diatribe against Rowling, Biggerstaff responded to her controversial post about the Supreme Court ruling, in which she raised her glass and smoked a cigar on her $150million superyacht in celebration.
After the billionaire author was hit by accusations she was ‘smoking a blunt’, she hit back on social media, clarifying that it was ‘objectively, provably and demonstratively a cigar’.
Responding to her post, Biggerstaff claimed she had no sense of humour about the comments, writing: ‘Bigotry rots the wit.’
He also showed his support for one person who compared her to Andrew Tate for puffing on a cigar, much like he does in his own videos, which many argue stir violence against women.
The tweet read: ‘lol, huffing on a cigar now? Is she Andrew Tate?’ with Biggerstaff simply re-posting the words to his own profile.
Rowling also shared a picture of Susan Smith and Marion Calder, co-directors of For Women Scotland, celebrating the ruling and told people not to ‘f**k with Scottish women’.
However, Scotsman Biggerstaff clapped back with: ‘The majority of Scottish women, who don’t agree with these d**kheads, aren’t being bankrolled by an obsessed billionaire,’ referencing reports that Rowling helped fund the case.
He also showed solidarity with the leading Harry Potter trio as he slammed one user who referred to Radcliffe, Watson and Grint as ‘disloyal bags of s**t’ for speaking out against Rowling, asking how they are doing today.
Rowling, 59, has repeatedly made headlines for her vocal and controversial views and has celebrated Supreme Court’s landmark judgment that trans women are not legally women
In his diatribe against Rowling, Biggerstaff responded to her controversial post about the Supreme Court ruling, in which she raised her glass and smoked a cigar on her superyacht
He slammed Rowling for sharing a picture of Susan Smith and Marion Calder, co-directors of For Women Scotland, celebrating the ruling and told people not to ‘f**k with Scottish women’
He also showed solidarity with the leading Harry Potter trio as he slammed one user who referred to Radcliffe, Watson and Grint as ‘disloyal bags of s**t’ for speaking out
Biggerstaff additionally rubbished accusations that billionaire Rowling – who is currently having her Harry Potter books adapted into a new TV series – was ‘cast out’ for her views
In response, an unimpressed Biggerstaff said: ‘You don’t have to wonder. You know what they’re doing – leading happy and successful lives, having not driven their families away with their hateful obsessions.’
Biggerstaff additionally rubbished accusations that billionaire Rowling – who is currently having her Harry Potter books adapted into a new TV series – was ‘cast out’ and ‘smeared’ for her views.
Responding to one post, Biggerstaff quipped: ‘Christ, if that’s what being cast out looks like I’ll take some,’ referring to her net worth of approximately £1billion.
Biggerstaff shared further general posts defending the transgender community as he shared his opposition to the Supreme Court ruling, arguing that the ‘loudest voices’ were ‘using concern for sex-based rights as cover for entirely reactionary politics’.
‘Today is just a torrent of people being willfully simple-minded. A performance of pragmatism to cloak their instinctive distaste for the Other,’ he added in another post.
Though he has been vocal in his distaste towards Rowling’s views on transgender rights, Biggerstaff has continued to cash in on his Harry Potter fame over the years.
He frequently attends conventions and meet and greets with fans, appearing at a signing at the Gibert-Joseph bookstore in France as recently as February 2025.
Biggerstaff also attended another meet and greet in Italy in December 2024 and appeared at the New England WizardFest & Magic Convention in Boxborough in August 2023.
Biggerstaff appeared in the first two Harry Potter movies – The Philosopher’s Stone and the Chamber of Secrets – and returned for a brief, uncredited cameo in the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Distancing himself from Rowling, Biggerstaff remains involved with the Harry Potter universe and attends fan conventions, doing so as recently as February (pictured at a signing in France)
The Supreme Court case saw judges rule that trans women with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) can be excluded from single-sex spaces if ‘proportionate’.
It marked the culmination of a long-running legal battle between the Scottish government and women’s group For Women Scotland over the definition of a ‘woman’ in Scottish law.
The case centred on whether somebody with a gender recognition certificate (GRC) recognising their gender as female should be protected from discrimination as a woman under the Equality Act.
The Scottish government had argued that such people were entitled to sex-based protections, meaning a transgender person with a GRC certificate identifying them as female would count towards women’s quota.
But campaign group For Women Scotland claimed they only applied to people born female.
The Supreme Court ruled that the words ‘sex’, ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in the Equality Act must mean ‘biological sex’, rejecting any alternative interpretations as ‘incoherent and impracticable’.
Rowling reacted last Wednesday by posting on X: ‘It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the UK. @ForWomenScot, I’m so proud to know you.’
She later added: ‘Trans people have lost zero rights today, although I don’t doubt some (not all) will be furious that the Supreme Court upheld women’s sex-based rights.’
Amid Rowling’s celebrations, leading Harry Potter stars Radcliffe, Watson and Grint have so far remained silent after speaking out against her in the past (all pictured in May 2004)
Amid Rowling’s celebrations, leading Harry Potter stars Radcliffe, Watson and Grint have so far remained silent after speaking out against her in the past.
They have previously spoken publicly in support of gender ideology – that biologically male trans women should be regarded as women – which Rowling disagrees with.
The author herself appeared to aim a jibe at them last month, when sharing on her X account a response to another user who asked: ‘What actor/actress instantly ruins a movie for you?’
Rowling wrote: ‘Three guesses. Sorry, but that was irresistible.’
She previously indicated in April last year she would not forgive Radcliffe nor Watson as she criticised celebrities she said had ‘cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights’.
She hit out at stars accused of using their ‘platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors’ after the release of the long-awaited Cass report into gender treatment in the UK.
That government-commissioned study deemed there to be ‘remarkably weak evidence’ for gender-affirming techniques in children such as puberty blockers.
When one fan said they were ‘just waiting for Dan and Emma [Watson]’ to offer a ‘very public apology’ knowing they’d be safe in the knowledge the author would forgive them, Rowling wrote: ‘Not safe I’m afraid.
‘Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces.’