Ouch: JK Rowling Finally Unleashes on Pro-Trans Former Harry Potter Actress After Years of Holding Back

"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling has consistently been a staunch critic of the push to allow men who identify as women to invade women's safe spaces, like locker rooms, bathrooms, women's sports, etc., even in the face of doxxing, cancel culture attempts, and violence/death threats against her and her family.

She's been unafraid to take on her detractors, no matter their positions in life, whether they be government officials, the literary community, Hollywood elitists, or far-left wacktivists.

But throughout it all, even as many of the main actors who played in the Harry Potter movies turned against her in a show of support for the transgender movement, Rowling held most of her full fire on one of them, Emma Watson, who played the character "Hermione Granger" as a child and young woman in all eight Harry Potter movies.

Rowling has decided, however, that it's time for some real talk after Watson, who has been on hiatus from acting for several years, tried to smooth things over during a recent interview by playing fence sitter, saying she still "treasured" Rowling even though she disagreed with her on certain issues:

“I really don’t believe that by having had that experience and holding the love and support and views that I have, mean that I can’t and don’t treasure Jo and the person that I had personal experiences with,” Watson said.

That was just too much for Rowling, who took to the X machine and unloaded as only she can.

"Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology," Rowling wrote. "Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn't want to see any of them threatened with loss of work, or violence, or death, because of them."

After getting the niceties out of the way, however, Rowling began her epic smackdown:

However, Emma and [Daniel Radcliffe] in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right - nay, obligation - to critique me and my views in public. Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created.

Rowling then explained why her commentary on Watson in particular had until recently been relatively muted:

When you've known people since they were ten years old it's hard to shake a certain protectiveness. Until quite recently, I hadn't managed to throw off the memory of children who needed to be gently coaxed through their dialogue in a big scary film studio. For the past few years, I've repeatedly declined invitations from journalists to comment on Emma specifically, most notably on the Witch Trials of JK Rowling. Ironically, I told the producers that I didn't want her to be hounded as the result of anything I said.

Rowling then shared when the exact turning point was with her on public criticism of Watson:

The television presenter in the attached clip highlights Emma's 'all witches' speech, and in truth, that was a turning point for me, but it had a postscript that hurt far more than the speech itself. Emma asked someone to pass on a handwritten note from her to me, which contained the single sentence 'I'm so sorry for what you're going through' (she has my phone number). This was back when the death, rape and torture threats against me were at their peak, at a time when my personal security measures had had to be tightened considerably and I was constantly worried for my family's safety. Emma had just publicly poured more petrol on the flames, yet thought a one line expression of concern from her would reassure me of her fundamental sympathy and kindness.

Rowling then ripped into Watson, pointing out that she has lived an incredibly privileged life in part thanks to the success of the movies she starred in, which were based on Rowling's books. Part of that privileged life includes likely never having to face the negative consequences of the dangerous things she's advocated for over the years in the name of "inclusivity" and "tolerance":

Like other people who've never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she's ignorant of how ignorant she is. She'll never need a homeless shelter. She's never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward. I'd be astounded if she's been in a high street changing room since childhood. Her 'public bathroom' is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing guard outside the door. Has she had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool? Is she ever likely to need a state-run rape crisis centre that refuses to guarantee an all-female service? To find herself sharing a prison cell with a male rapist who's identified into the women's prison?
I wasn't a multimillionaire at fourteen. I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous. I therefore understand from my own life experience what the trashing of women's rights in which Emma has so enthusiastically participated means to women and girls without her privileges.

Rowling concluded by observing two things: That Watson is only now trying to ease back into her good graces because the tide has turned against the transgender movement. She went on to say that you can't embrace a movement that has called for someone's assassination and then act like you love that person with all your heart:

The greatest irony here is that, had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me - a change of tack I suspect she's adopted because she's noticed full-throated condemnation of me is no longer quite as fashionable as it was - I might never have been this honest.
Adults can't expect to cosy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend's assassination, then assert their right to the former friend's love, as though the friend was in fact their mother. Emma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public - but I have the same right, and I've finally decided to exercise it.

I'm seeing quite a bit of comment about this, so I want to make a couple of points.

I'm not owed eternal agreement from any actor who once played a character I created. The idea is as ludicrous as me checking with the boss I had when I was twenty-one for what opinions I should… https://t.co/c0pz19P7jc
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 29, 2025

Moral of the story? Never, ever get on J.K. Rowling's bad side.

Editor’s Note: Every single day, here at RedState, we will stand up and FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT against the radical left and deliver the conservative reporting our readers deserve.

Please help us continue to tell the truth about the Trump administration and its successes. Join RedState VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership.