"Harry Potter" star Ralph Fiennes has weighed in on the ongoing conversation around author J.K. Rowling and the debate around her transphobic personal views. In a new profile from UK publication the Telegraph, Fiennes said he can't "understand the vitriol directed at her."
"I can understand the heat of an argument, but I find this age of accusation and the need to condemn irrational," the Lord Voldemort actor said. "I find the level of hatred that people express about views that differ from theirs, and the violence of language towards others, disturbing."
Last summer, notable philosopher and gender theorist expert Judith Butler spoke with another UK publication, the New Statesman, about the going conversation around Rowling and people's reactions to her statements. When asked what she had to say about "violent or abusive language used online against people like J.K. Rowling," Butler said the following:
"I am against online abuse of all kinds. I confess to being perplexed by the fact that you point out the abuse levelled against J.K. Rowling, but you do not cite the abuse against trans people and their allies that happens online and in person. I disagree with JK Rowling's view on trans people, but I do not think she should suffer harassment and threats. Let us also remember, though, the threats against trans people in places like Brazil, the harassment of trans people in the streets and on the job in places like Poland and Romania - or indeed right here in the US."
Fiennes isn't the only "Harry Potter" actor who has taken a public stance on Rowling's statements and transgender rights. Days after Rowling's essay was published, Daniel Radcliffe (who played Harry Potter) wrote a letter for the Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization aimed at supporting LGBTQ+ youth.
"Transgender women are women," he wrote. "Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I."
Others, like Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid) have made statements similar to Fiennes in recent interviews.
"I don't think what she said was offensive really," Coltrane said during an interview with the Radio Times. "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?"
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