‘Harry Potter’ Actor Shoots Down Reporter Goading Him To Badmouth JK Rowling

Actor Tom Felton didn’t take the bait when a reporter asked him about the controversy over JK Rowling taking a stand against radical trans activists. 

The 37-year-old celeb, who played the villain Draco Malfoy in the successful “Harry Potter” film franchise and will reprise the role for the upcoming Broadway production, was asked about the matter Sunday night at the Tony Awards. When a Variety reporter asked Felton if Rowling’s views affected him or his work, he rejected the suggestion and reiterated his support for Rowling.

“No, I can’t say it does. I’m not really that attuned to it,” the British star said. 

 

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“The only thing I always remind myself is that I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world. Here I am in New York,” he continued. “And I have not seen anything bring the world together more than Potter, and she’s responsible for that. So I’m incredibly grateful.”

Over the past five years, Rowling has faced scorn in the media and among former fans for taking the position that sex and gender are determined by biology. Most “Harry Potter” actors denounced her position and distanced themselves from the billionaire author, but several have come to her defense.

It all started in 2020 with a series of viral tweets from Rowling stating her position. “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth,” she wrote in part at the time.

British star Daniel Radcliffe, who played the main character Harry Potter in the film series, wrote an essay for The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ-focused nonprofit, in the wake of Rowling’s viral tweets.

“I firmly stand with the trans community,” Rupert Grint, the actor who played Ron Weasley, said in a statement at the time. 

“Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are,” Emma Watson, who played Hermione, shared on Twitter in June 2020.

“Fantastic Beasts” star Eddie Redmayne said he was pro-trans rights, but also noted that critics were being way too hard on Rowling, calling the online backlash “absolutely disgusting.”

Actor Ralph Fiennes, who plays Lord Voldemort in the “Harry Potter” franchise, has been one of Rowling’s staunchest defenders.

“I can’t understand the vitriol directed at her,” Fiennes said in a March 2021 interview. “I can understand the heat of an argument, but I find this age of accusation and the need to condemn irrational. I find the level of hatred that people express about views that differ from theirs, and the violence of language toward others, disturbing.”

Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” movies, also came to Rowling’s defense prior to his death in October 2022.

“I don’t think what she said was offensive, really,” he told Radio Times in 2020. “I don’t know why, but there’s a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended. They wouldn’t have won the war, would they?”