PAGING HERMIONE

J.K. Rowling Takes a Potshot at Emma Watson Over Trans Youth Charity Fiasco

The author, who’s famously taken anti-trans stances, admonished the trans youth charity Mermaids and celebrities who supported it.

Renowned author and current anti-trans activist J.K. Rowling took a swipe at trans youth charity Mermaids—and her Harry Potter actress Emma Watson—after a trustee for the organization stepped down amid controversy. The former trustee, Dr. Jacob Breslow, attended a conference in 2011 for another organization that called for reforming how society understands pedophiles. Mermaids disavowed that organization, saying it was “completely at odds” with their values, according to the BBC. But Rowling took to Twitter to admonish Mermaids, a group she’s regularly criticized for its gender-affirming treatment of trans youth, saying the charity had “achieved unprecedented influence in the UK” despite hiring a “paedophilia apologist.” That influence wouldn’t be possible “without the money and public support of certain corporations and celebrities, who eagerly boosted them,” she added, in a likely swipe toward Watson, who has publicly backed Mermaids. Rowling called supporters of the charity “part of an authoritarian, misogynist, homophobic movement.”