Why JK Rowling REJECTED Emma Watson's Fake Olive Branch

J. K. Rowling - the writer
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19 Video Views·Mar 26, 2026
Emma Watson spoke well of JK Rowling in a recent podcast interview. This comes after years of criticizing JK Rowling for speaking up about women's rights and the infringement of men in women's spaces. Watson was accused of straddling the fence on the issue.
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Do you feel comfortable with me using a, you know, female toilet?
Oh my god, of course I would.
Does that depend on me having had surgery?
No.
What would you, what would you say, I don't want to dwell on this for too long,
but what would you say to those people who would have an issue sharing a public?
Oh my goodness, say that's another human being.
How can you, I understand fearing what you don't know.
I understand kind of being like, oh, I don't really understand about this,
and I've never met someone, and go, go and speak, go, like, go and go learn, go speak, go,
um, yeah, go look into the whites of someone's eyes that's had this experience,
and tell me after you've done that, that you do not see or feel their humanity,
or understand their story, or that you, that like, there's any part of you that
feels that it's okay to make that person not feel included.
It's making people feel not included, I think, is, it's just such a painful, awful thing to do.
Hi guys, welcome back to the channel.
So from around 2019, J.K. Rowling has been accused of being transphobic for various reasons.
For the very tweets that she has liked in the past.
She was on the radar of trans activists for a few years now, and in order to, I guess,
stay popular, or to go along with the mainstream narrative, the very people who her books made
turned on her. Some saw them as just immature kids, ungrateful,
brattish individuals who threw J.K. Rowling under the bus for simply acknowledging
that a man cannot be a woman. So J.K. Rowling was first called out in 2019 for following somebody
who didn't buy into this idea that a man could be a woman, following YouTuber Magdalene Burns,
one of the lines that Burns is famous for is saying, there's no such thing as a lesbian with
a penis. So actually, as early as 2018, J.K. Rowling was slammed for liking a tweet
that referred to trans women as men in dresses. But the author's spokesperson told Pink News,
this was purely an accident. I'm afraid J.K. Rowling had a clumsy and middle-aged moment,
and this is not the first time she has favorited by holding her phone incorrectly, the spokesperson
said. Rowling later said she absent-mindedly liked the tweet when she meant to screenshot it
because she had taken an interest in gender identity and transgender matters. And who's
to guess that maybe upon further research, she realized that the whole thing is a complete farce
and is actually anti-women and tramples all over women's rights. And then she started
being more vocal about it. And she certainly paid the price. She came under fire for defending
Maya Fostater. The researcher had been involved in an employment discrimination battle as her
contract with a think tank wasn't renewed after she made a series of statements that were regarded
as transphobic. These statements included that people should not be compelled to play along
with literal delusions like trans women are women. And she referred to a gender-fluid person as a man
who likes to dress in women's clothes. Rowling stood by Fostater. Dress however you please,
she said on X. Live your best life in peace and security, but force women out of their jobs for
stating that sex is real. So as you can imagine, 2020, the year of the virtual signaling on
steroids, the year where people wanted to support BLM, where people wanted to support the trans
community, letting the world know where they stood on this matter, even when nobody asked.
And this is when it became evident that people such as Emma Watson had turned on J.K. Rowling
simply because of her views that supported the rights of women, simply because she didn't believe
that men should be allowed to replace women, men who claim to be women taking the rights away from
actual females. And as it stands now on X, your likes can now remain private. And I'm not sure if
J.K. Rowling has put her tweets or posts on that setting, but one thing that she is known
for receiving backlash for is liking certain tweets. It's pretty ridiculous that people have
the time to look through the tweets or the posts that she likes. Rowling was again critiqued for
reportedly liking another tweet. In this case, one that misgendered psychotherapist and photographer
Alex Drummond and described this person as an adult human male who claims to be a lesbian.
Yes, he's kept his dangly bits and skipped the hormones. And we know that she has a way with
words and her tweets can be very entertaining. Rowling also slammed an article that was supposed
to be about supporting women when it comes to periods and things of that nature. And it used
the term people who menstruate. Rowling said, people who menstruate. I'm sure there used to be
a word for those people. Someone help me out. Womben, wimpened, wombered. She's close. She
also came under fire for liking a tweet that criticized health care professionals that push
medications onto people in relation to gender identity. Health professionals are, quote,
concerned that young people struggling with their mental health are being shunted towards hormones
and surgery when this may not be in their best interests. She also published a 3,600 word essay
on her website about why she had spoken out on sex and gender issues. In it, Rowling said she is
worried about the new trans activism and, quote, the huge explosion in young women wishing to
transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning. She went on to
slam those who said that women must accept and admit that there is no material difference between
trans women and themselves. Rowling revealed that she is a survivor of DV and SA and said this led
her to sympathize with women who had concerns around single sex spaces. And what's so bad about
that? Saying that you want women to have spaces where men are excluded for their own protection,
for their own peace of mind. Apparently that was so egregious to reference this topic in 2020.
And then we had people weigh in, letting their allegiance be known. Emma Watson, for example,
like I said, 2020 was the year of virtue signalling. We had actors from the Harry
Potter film franchise begin to speak out against Rowling. In a post on the Trevor Project's website,
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe condemned Rowling's tweets. Transgender women are women,
he said. Any statement to the contrary, quote, erases the identity and dignity of transgender
people and goes against all advice given by professional healthcare associates who have
far more expertise on this subject matter than either Joe or I. Oh yes, these doctors who can't
even explain what a woman is. These doctors who seem to have forgotten all the biology
they learned in elementary school. And then we had Emma Watson tweeting the following.
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.
I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you,
respect you and love you for who you are. And then she bragged about the organisations
she donates to. I donate to Mermaid's Gender and Mama Cash. If you can, perhaps you'll feel
inclined to do the same. Happy Pride 2020. Send in love. And then she accepted an award talking
about how she's for all the witches. Okay. Many took that to be a dig at JK Rowling.
I'm here for all of the witches. There's a question about whether she said bar one
at the end. I don't. Yeah, because I didn't quite get that. No, and I don't really get it. Okay.
Okay. Yeah. So yeah, let's let's go with that. I don't then see and why JK Rowling so upset about
that. I was obscure. I mean, it's gone back well beyond two years. And you know, JK Rowling has
suffered hugely for her views. You know, she's been threatened and there's been some very nasty
stuff. And the fact is that those young people who made their names because of her book,
just distance themselves. And now it's more than that. And they attacked her. So of course,
this has affected JK Rowling's enterprise. This is affected, you know, when she releases new books,
people say that there's some hidden transphobic messages in the books and all sorts of accusations,
the threats, and the counseling, all of that. She's had to put up with for years.
Now we've come to the point where people are no longer willing to go along with the nonsense,
where people are admitting that no, men cannot be women. After seeing the repercussions of
allowing this to go on for as long as it has gone on for. And obviously, with the Supreme Court
ruling as well, recently in the UK, people have been forced to admit the truth that they went
along with a complete farce, that they went along with complete foolishness that has had serious
repercussions on women's rights, on women's safety, on pregnancy, on breastfeeding, on resources
that are supposed to be for women based on biology, not based on identity. And the people
who have gone along with this include women like Emma Watson, who should have been thanking JK Rowling
for standing up for her rights. But I guess when you have your private security, your private jets
and, you know, a mansion where you don't have to see anybody else, you can go along with such
foolishness. It's not going to be you in those public bathrooms when a man walks in. It's not
going to be you in the Marks and Spencer changing rooms and a man walks in. They'll shut the store
down for you to shop there. And JK Rowling has called her out on the privilege that allowed her
to go along with ordinary women in particular, having their rights trampled upon. Ordinary women
who can't afford the best lawyers to sue and seek a legal action, who have to crowdfund when they
lose their job for not embracing a man being in their locker room. This has affected, you know,
nurses, teachers, women who work in prisons, stay at home mums, working mums. And the likes of Watson
simply showed how out of touch they are and essentially went along with what helped to get
a pat on the back, even when that meant being ungrateful to the woman who helped make her famous
in the first place. So Emma has now backtracked, or seemed to have backtracked. She has said that
she doesn't want JK Rowling to be counselled. She's even shown, you know, a shred of gratitude
towards JK Rowling for helping her, you know, to have the career that she enjoys today.
Her kindness and words of encouragement and that steadfastness.
And also, honestly, just as a young woman, for her to have written that character,
created that world, given me an opportunity which, to be honest, barely exists in the history of
English literature. You know, there's just no world in which I could ever cancel her
out or cancel that out for anything. It has to remain true. It is true. And this is where
this like holding of these, I just don't know what else to do other than hold these two
seemingly incompatible things together at the same time and just hope maybe they will one day
resolve or co-join themselves and maybe accept that they never will, but that they can both
still be true. And I can love her. I can know she loved me. I can be grateful to her. I can
know the things that she said are true. And that can be this whole other thing. And my job feels
like to just hold, just to hold all of it. But the bigger thing is just what she's done will never be
taken away from me. So of course, Emma received it from both sides. She got dragged by the trans
activists for saying something complimentary about JK Rowling. Even the very act of saying
something nice about her was met with huge backlash from trans activists. But also we have people who,
you know, on the women's rights side of the whole equation, they were saying that she's straddling
the fence still, that it's not good enough, that she needs to basically renounce her support of
the trampoline upon women's rights in the past by propping up this idea that men can be women and
men can replace women essentially. And for doing what she did to JK Rowling, basically throwing
her under the bus, acting like she was superior to JK Rowling because, you know, she was all for
trans rights and she was all for inclusion. If what Emma was now saying is, look, I'm sorry,
I got that wrong. I was young. You know, I should have really thought this through. That would be
different. Then I'd say, yeah, OK. But she's effectively saying, well, I want it both ways.
And I don't think that works. Looking down on the woman who obviously is a brilliant author,
who worked herself from the ground up to where she is today and is now, rather than running away with
her billions, you know, and enjoying her luxurious lifestyle, she's put herself on the line. She's
opened herself up to backlash. She's opened herself up to being counselled. She could have,
you know, gone on and had an easy life with everything she's built. But no, instead,
she basically spoke out, whereas the likes of Emma Watson appeared to go along with
what was the popular view at the time. And today it's no longer the popular view.
So it does actually benefit you when you remain the same, regardless of what's popular.
And I think that's a huge learning experience for Emma. Perhaps she's become aware of that now,
and that's why she's now being complimentary towards J.K. Rowling. So we have people who
are saying it's not good enough and we have people saying, well, you know, it's a good thing that
she's come this far. Like, let's not forget the very public stand she took at the BAFTAs against
J.K. Rowling back in 2022. And the British media crucified her for it. Some of you may not remember,
but they crucified her for it. They still, some of them still do to this day. They called her at
the time horrendous and they pretty much deemed her an ungrateful bitch. They basically acted
like because J.K. Rowling gave her her start, she should forever be indebted to this woman.
They were horrible to her. Whilst I don't agree with sitting on the fence and flip-flopping,
I don't think that's what she was doing. I think she was just trying to be diplomatic about her
answer and it backfired. I think some of you need to cut her some slack because it's not as if she
doesn't stand up for trans rights and it's not as if we don't know where she stands on the line.
Maybe some people that have never heard her opinions and are new to hearing what she might
think on these issues, and I think maybe because she was so vocal in the past, people are surprised
that she's not being as vocal now. I also do believe that there is something to be said for
standing in your convictions. If you really believe something, you should be able to stand
strong in your convictions and you should be able to condemn her once further. I do believe that.
The reason I think you should stand strong in your convictions or what you believe is because
Emma Watson did all that. She was seemingly nice about J.K. Rowling, didn't say anything mean about
her, didn't berate her, and J.K. Rowling has come out with a statement mocking her. She might as
well have said that she hates that transphobic witch because being nice about her is going to
get her nowhere. I don't necessarily think she wants to have a conversation with J.K. Rowling,
but now look. But Emma Watson was careful, wasn't she, not to go too far. I think what
she's going to find now is you can't sit on the fence. She was a real cheerleader for Mermaids,
the charity, and for transitioning children and for people knowing who they are.
There's also kind of a nod, there's that clip of her at the BAFTAs and it was just kind of like a
really snidey, there's that bit where she says, I'm here for all the witch, like, but one. Yeah,
it was just nasty. Yeah. Right when J.K. Rowling was getting a lot of, you know, rape threats,
death threats. So whether she is trying to row back from that full-hearted support for
transitioning children or whether she's just trying to get back in with J.K. Rowling in the hope of
work, who knows? So this is what J.K. Rowling had to say. 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 21 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. When you've
known people since they were 10 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 a result of anything I said. 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, awe and torture threats against me
were at their peak. And at a time when my personal security measures had had to be
tightened considerably, and I was constantly worried about 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. 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. A public bathroom is single occupancy and comes with a security man
standing guard outside the door as 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 R crisis centre that refuses
to guarantee an all female service to find herself sharing a prison cell with a male predator who's
identified into the women's prison? I wasn't a multi-millionaire at 14. 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 the 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,
the change of tact 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 cozy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend's
assassination then assert their rights to the form of friends and 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.
Wow, it's so refreshing. It's so refreshing when people don't tiptoe around the nonsense.
I'm glad she's finally addressed this and put these people in their place. It's about time
because they're not kids anymore they're adults and it's about time they're given some home truths.
There's consequences to your actions when you throw somebody under the bus
for ironically standing up for your rights but like JK Rowling pointed out when you're so
privileged and out of touch is it any wonder you just go along with what's popular
even at the expense of women and girls other women and other girls. Maybe this is something that
you know the young lady finally had to hear. As much as I vehemently disagree with JK Rowling
on her thoughts on trans rights and how wacko the the things that she believes in about that are
and how they believe they shouldn't have rights whack. I gotta say she clocked Emma Watson in
her response to her interview just in terms of like calling out Emma Watson's privilege
which I even felt in the interview just besides with the whole JK Rowling stuff but like even
talking about the workplace and not finding workplace friends with an acting like bro
are any of us trying to make our best friends in the workplace welcome to reality. I mean just
crying over that I was just like give me a ******* break this is like privilege at its
finest this bitch has been rich since she was literally 14. Clearly she has not faced severe
financial struggle or issues um so just gotta say as much as I disagree with JK Rowling she did have
an educated response to Emma. So let me know what you think about JK Rowling's response to Emma
Watson. Do you think it's too harsh? Do you think we should just you know forgive and embrace
Emma's newfound appreciation for JK Rowling? Should she be commended for saying that she
loves and cares for JK Rowling or was it all simply trying to make a shift to go along with
the new popular view of the time in order to stay relevant? You let me know in the comments below
and again thanks for watching I appreciate all of the lovely messages I've been receiving
in light of recent news. If you don't know what I'm talking about please refer to my community post
and again I really appreciate every single one of you take care of yourselves and God willing
I will see you in the next video.
