J.K. Rowling Unloads on Emma Watson for Being ‘Ignorant to How Ignorant She Is’ on the Trans Issue – Megyn Kelly

Renowned Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has been one of the most outspoken advocates for women’s rights and spaces in the face of radical gender ideology, refusing to bend the knee despite what many in Hollywood – including some of the very actors she made famous – have said about her.

Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movie franchise, has been openly critical of Rowling’s stance on the trans issue for years, but she seemingly softened her position during a recent podcast interview. That caught the attention of the British writer, who responded to the actress in a “mic drop” post on X.

On Tuesday’s show, Megyn was joined by Stu Burguiere, host of Stu Does America, to discuss the history between the pair and Rowling’s powerful response.

Watson’s Comments

Watson and her Harry Potter costar Daniel Radcliffe, who played the titular character in the films, have publicly attacked Rowling since her June 2020 essay explaining why she had chosen to speak out about “sex and gender issues.”

“J.K. Rowling has been the stalwart in standing up for women’s rights on the trans issue. She has never wavered,” Megyn explained. “Unlike some of us, she wasn’t drawn in early and convinced that this is a matter of empathy. She was like ‘no’ from the beginning, which was very, very strong and brave. She lost a lot. They tried to wrest her series away from her… but J.K. Rowling is really kind of a ‘don’t eff with me,’ kind of bad bitch in the best sense and has never backed down.” 

The author has long maintained that she would not forgive Watson or Radcliffe for their criticism, which she said led to “death, rape, and torture threats” at the time. But it appears the actress may have been trying to get back in her good graces when she was asked about the years-long feud during an interview with Jay Shetty on his On Purpose podcast.

Shetty framed Watson as the victim in the relationship, asking her how she deals with the “extremely hurtful” things he said Rowling has said about her while ignoring any evidence of the inverse. The actress did not take any responsibility for her role in the fallout, but rather said she still “treasures” the author.

“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 [Rowling],” Watson said, in part. “There’s just no world in which I could ever cancel her out… I can love her. I can know she loved me. I could be grateful to her… What she’s done will never be taken away from me.”

Rowling’s Response

Shetty praised Watson for “setting a powerful example,” but Rowling wasn’t so moved. Five days after the interview was released, she took to X with a 700-word reply to the actress and what has transpired in the last several years. Here is some of what she wrote:

“…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 hold these days.

Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. 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.

However, Emma and Dan 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…

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…

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.

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.”

Megyn said Rowling could not have responded “better, more powerfully, or in a more damaging way for Emma Watson,” who she believes “deserved every bit of scorn.” Burguiere agreed. “First of all, don’t screw with one of the world’s greatest writers when you get in one of these battles… It was surgical,” he noted. “But also you really sense hurt there from her… [and] betrayal.”

In Megyn’s view, the best thing Watson could have done at the height of the backlash was either support her friend or stay silent. She did neither. “She could have used just silence, if Emma Watson disagreed so mightily. And by the way, I don’t believe she did. I believe she went along with the woke mob, just like all these actors do,” Megyn explained. “But she joined in. She piled on – so did Daniel Radcliffe. He should not escape this either… Because we wouldn’t even know [their names] if it hadn’t been for J.K. Rowling.”

Rowling referenced to the timing of Watson’s comments, alluding to the idea that her stance may be changing along with public opinion. That, Burguiere said, could be a glimmer of hope. “I will say the positive way maybe to look at this is that change is real,” he noted. “If Emma Watson, in her circles, is really sensing a change like that, maybe we’ve made more progress than we even understand… But that doesn’t heal a wound that seems really deep for J.K. Rowling.”

You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Burguiere by tuning in to episode 1,160 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.