Miriam Margolyes has complained that JK Rowling’s comments on the transgender community have been “too harsh”.
The 84-year-old actor is the latest Harry Potter star to speak out against the best-selling author and said Rowling had taken her views too far.
“I don’t agree with her about the trans issue – I think her opinion is too harsh,” Margolyes told A Gay Old Time podcast.
But the actor, who played Professor Sprout, said she “didn’t like the fact that the trans community has reacted with such fury” to her remarks.
“It’s not good to be so furious. We should be gentler with each other. We’re all oppressed by sections of the community. Let’s just be kinder.”
The author has faced widespread pushback for her rhetoric regarding trans people, which has seen her call for spaces for biological women only, dared Scottish police to arrest her for misgendering trans women and implied that the community harbours sexual predators.
Margolyes concluded by saying she is “sorry that [Rowling] has been so fiercely vocal” on the subject, adding: “I really just feel supportive about this tiny group of people who are trans, and if they want me to use pronouns, I think it’s the right thing to do. If you can make people happy, do it.”
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Rowling, who has denied she is transphobic, has been criticised by several Harry Potter actors, including Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, who have distanced themselves from the writer in light of her statements.
Radcliffe was the first of Harry Potter’s lead trio to speak out against Rowling’s views on transgender identities.
“Transgender women are women,” he said in a 2020 statement released by The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention charity for young LGBT+ people. He acknowledged that Rowling is “unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken”, but said he felt “compelled to say something at this moment”. His 2020 statement was backed by Grint and Watson.
In 2024, Radcliffe revealed he had not spoken to the author in years.
Hermione star Watson also cryptically addressed the furore at the Baftas in 2022.
Host Rebel Wilson introduced the actor to the stage, stating: “Here to present the next award is Emma Watson. She calls herself a feminist, but we all know she’s a witch.” Watson quipped: “I’m here for all the witches!”which many interpreted as a dig at Rowling.
The author has faced widespread pushback for her rhetoric regarding trans people, which has seen her call for spaces for biological women only, dared Scottish police to arrest her for misgendering trans women and implied that the community harbours sexual predators.
Last year, Stephen Fry said Rowling had been “radicalised” as he accused her of being “cruel”. However, he said that the “vitriol” she has faced is “unhelpful” as it “only hardens her”.
Fry, who is an advocate for LGBT+ rights, suggested: “She has been radicalised, I fear – perhaps by TERFs [Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist] but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her. I’m afraid she seems to be a lost cause for us.”