Actress Evanna Lynch has spoken out to defend JK Rowling after the author continues to receive backlash for ‘anti-trans’ comments made back in 2020.
Lynch, who played the beloved character of Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter series, has described herself as a friend and admirer of Rowling.
The author initially made the comments in a series of tweets, and greatly angered the transgender community and its allies.
After almost three years, Rowling addressed the controversies on her podcast The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling, where she explained that she doesn’t care that her remarks have tarnished her reputation, and those who believe she does ”could not have misunderstood me more profoundly.”
“I do not walk around my house, thinking about my legacy,” she says in the first episode.
“You know, what a pompous way to live your life walking around thinking, ‘What will my legacy be?’
“Whatever, I’ll be dead. I care about now.
“I care about the living.”
Since, fans of her are greatly hurt by not just her problematic comments, but also her lack of regard for those she’s offended.
At the time of the tweets, Lynch joined fellow co-stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint, calling out Rowling’s insensitivity about the topic on social media. However, she has since called for ‘grace’ from others.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Lynch explained: “I was very naive when I was dragged into that conversation. I didn’t even know there were two sides. I had a view of, like, good and bad.”
“I do have compassion for both sides of the argument. I know what it was like to be a teenager who hated my body so much I wanted to crawl out of my skin, so I have great compassion for trans people and I don’t want to add to their pain.”
She went on to say, “I do also think it’s important that JK Rowling has been amplifying the voices of detransitioners. I had this impulse to go, ‘Let’s all just stop talking about it’, and I think probably I’m a bit braver now about having uncomfortable conversations…”
“I just felt that her character has always been to advocate for the most vulnerable members of society. The problem is that there’s a disagreement over who’s the most vulnerable. I do wish people would just give her more grace and listen to her.”
Fellow Harry Potter actress Helena Bonham-Carter has also defended the author, saying “She’s allowed her opinion, particularly if she’s suffered abuse. Everybody carries their own history of trauma and forms their opinions from that trauma, and you have to respect where people come from and their pain.”
However, not everyone is quick to defend Rowling, and Harry Potter’s leading man, Daniel Radcliffe, actually wrote an essay for The Trevor Project to show his support for the trans community.
When asked on his reasoning for speaking out he said: “The reason I was felt very, very much as though I needed to say something when I did was because, particularly since finishing ‘Potter,’ I’ve met so many queer and trans kids and young people who had a huge amount of identification with Potter on that.”
“And so seeing them hurt on that day I was like, I wanted them to know that not everybody in the franchise felt that way. And that was really important.”
Despite Rowling’s refusal to accept the hurt she’s inflicted upon the transgender community and allies, Radcliffe has hopefully helped fans of Harry Potter affected by the comments.
