May 5, 2025: J.K. Rowling has reignited controversy with a blistering response to an open letter signed by over 2,000 members of the UK arts community—including multiple Harry Potter actors—that voiced support for trans rights in light of a recent UK Supreme Court ruling. The ruling reaffirmed that legal definitions of “sex” pertain strictly to biological sex, a decision which has sparked fierce debate across the UK.
Actors Eddie Redmayne (Fantastic Beasts), Katie Leung (Cho Chang in the original Harry Potter series), and Paapa Essiedu (cast as Snape in HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter reboot) were among the many who signed the letter, which warned that the court’s decision “undermines the lived reality and threatens the safety of trans, non-binary and intersex people living in the UK.”
In response, Rowling published a sharp essay on X (formerly Twitter), accusing the letter’s signatories of hypocrisy and cowardice. She wrote:
“Nobody sane believes, or has ever believed, that humans can change sex… Pretending to believe these things has become an elitist badge of virtue.”
Rowling suggested that the support for trans rights among actors and others in the industry was driven less by conviction than by fear of losing status or employment.
“Some argue that signatories of these sorts of letters are motivated by fear: fear for their careers… fear of their co-religionists… back-stabbing colleagues ever ready to report wrongthink,” she wrote, without naming any individuals.
Calling the signatories’ actions “performative,” Rowling also implied that the industry has been overtaken by ideological zealotry and that actors were choosing safety over truth.
She ended her statement by suggesting that some of these individuals might one day regret their position:
“I wonder if they ever ask themselves how they got here, and I wonder whether any of them will ever feel shame.”
The pro-trans open letter had been signed by notable names including Bella Ramsey, Nicola Coughlan, Joe Alwyn, and many others. It directly opposed the court ruling, stating that it contributes to a hostile environment for transgender and gender-diverse individuals.
Rowling’s comments have been met with both criticism and support. HBO has stated that the author’s views will not impact the development of its upcoming Harry Potter series, though backlash against her involvement continues to simmer within parts of the fanbase and cast alike.