THE BOY WHO LIVED

Daniel Radcliffe Explains Why He Spoke Out Against J.K. Rowling’s Transphobia

The actor explained that he wanted “queer and trans kids” who identified with Harry Potter “to know that not everybody in the franchise” believes what Rowling does.

“Weasley is our king”? How about “Radcliffe is our king”? More than two years after publicly denouncing Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling’s full-throated and sustained transphobia in an open letter, Daniel Radcliffe revisited his reasons for his choice to condemn her hateful rhetoric. In a new interview with IndieWire, he attributed his motivation for the letter—penned in partnership with the Trevor Project—to LGBTQ+ Potter fans. “The reason I was 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,” Radcliffe said. “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.” Reflecting that he also wouldn’t have “been able to look myself in the mirror” if he hadn’t publicly taken a stand, Radcliffe added, “But it’s not mine to guess what’s going on in someone else’s head.”