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Harry Potter star Bonnie Wright ‘prefers not to comment’ on JK Rowling trans row anymore-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro
The star initially tweeted her support of the trans community in response.
Bonnie Wright gave her support to the trans community in the initial backash to JK Rowling’s comments (Picture: Getty/Rex)
Bonnie Wright has said she ‘prefers not to comment’ anymore when it comes to the trans controversy surrounding JK Rowling.
The Harry Potter author attracted a fierce backlash in 2020 after criticising an article which referred to ‘people who menstruate’.
Taking issue with the phrasing, Rowling – who denies she is transphobic – wrote: ‘”People who menstruate”. I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?’
A later series of tweets also saw her defend her staunch belief in biological sex, again attracting a further negative response.
Many actors in the Harry Potter film franchise, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, allied with the trans community and distanced themselves from Rowling’s views at the time.
Wright, 31, who starred as Ginny Weasley in the films, also threw her support behind the transgender community, tweeting: ‘If Harry Potter was a source of love and belonging for you, that love is infinite and there to take without judgment or question. Transwomen are Women. I see and love you, Bonnie x’
The actress said she still agreed with what she originally tweeted but it was a ‘subject outside of my input’ (Picture: Getty)
Rowling and Wright with Hermione star Emma Watson in 2002 (Picture: Scott Myers/Rex/Shutterstock)
Two years on, the actress has confirmed she still holds that view but is no longer keen to comment further.
In a new interview with The Sunday Times, she explained: ‘I made that comment then and I still stand with that same feeling, but it’s got to the point where I prefer not to comment more.’
‘It’s a subject outside of my input.’
Addressing the continued value of the Harry Potter world, she added: ‘That’s what’s beautiful about the story. Everyone has their own interpretation or relationship with it.’
Following the popular Harry Potter 20th anniversary reunion last year, Luna Lovegood star Evanna Lynch shut down the suggestion that the author had been snubbed from the special, and insisted the cast had ‘respect’ for Rowling.
The actress called the world of Harry Potter ‘beautiful’ (Picture: Getty)
Speaking to GB News, Lynch said: ‘I’ve talked to all the cast, they all have great respect for her even if they don’t agree with her beliefs. I really strongly disagree with the narrative that there’s a rift.’
The 30-year-old continued: ‘She has her beliefs and she’s doing her thing. We all have strong beliefs and it’s been a very difficult conversation.
‘I want there to be healing and I don’t want us to keep fighting, so I reject that narrative that there’s been a cold shoulder.’
Rowling was featured in the reunion special in archive video clips only, but Lynch suggested it was because she was ‘busy writing books’.
Evanna Lynch quashed claims that Rowling wasn’t involved with the Harry Potter reunion due to her trans comments (Picture: Getty)
‘I don’t think that was about the conversations that have been had about more controversial issues,’ she added.
Stars including Succession’s Brian Cox and Rachel Riley have defended the ‘unjust’ treatment the author has recieved, with Countdown star Rachel linking it to her support for Jewish people.
Rowling also fuelled tensions with trans equality groups in April this year when she attended a lunch with women’s rights campaigners, with her company including Sex Matters co-founder Maya Forstater and Professor Kathleen Stock, who resigned from the University of Sussex amid a transphobia row.
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Recently, messages of support for Pride Month from productions of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in New York and San Francisco backfired online as punters brought up Rowling’s past comments on the trans community.
The tweets remain online but replies have been limited to only those followed by the accounts.
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