Ralph Fiennes Defends J. K. Rowling And Says Backlash Against Author Is 'Disturbing'

Ralph Fiennes has come to the support of J. K. Rowling after the author was called out and criticised for comments that activists labeled anti-trans.

The actor played Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter film franchise and was recently asked about his thoughts on the woman who brought those movies to life.

He told the Telegraph: "I 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. I find the level of hatred that people express about views that differ from theirs, and the violence of language towards others, disturbing."

Fiennes' statement is at odds with his Harry Potter co-stars like Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, who publicly condemned Rowling over her statements.

The author attracted all sorts of attention last year when she fired off a series of tweets, which were quickly labeled anti-trans.

In June last year, she wrote: "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. The idea that women like me, who've been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they're vulnerable in the same way as women-i.e., to male violence-'hate' trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences-is a nonsense."

She was reacting to a story that said 'people who menstruate' instead of women who menstruate.

After copping serious backlash, she followed it up to say that what she was referring to wasn't meant to be anti-trans.

Rowling said 'I know and love trans people' and she's 'been empathetic to trans people for decades'.

But she took issue with using hormones and surgery on young people who want to transition, adding: "Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people, who are being set on a lifelong path of medicalisation that may result in the loss of their fertility and/or full sexual function."

Rowling also believed the rights of cisgendered women were being overlooked as a result of the trans community, saying: "When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he's a woman ... then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside."

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Harry Potter, Entertainment, Celebrity, J.K. Rowling

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

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