When Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling decided to double and triple down on her transphobic comments on Twitter, Daniel Radcliffe, alongside other cast members, condemned her beliefs almost immediately. Now two years later, Radcliffe talks about revisiting Rowling’s comments and how at the time he wanted to reassure fans, especially gender non-confirming and transgender fans, that their favorite character, Harry Potter, isn’t a transphobe. In a recent interview with IndieWire, Radcliffe shared why he felt compelled to write an open letter with the Trevor Project about Rowling’s transphobic tweets in 2020. “The reason I 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,” explained Radcliffe. “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.” He also stated that he didn’t think he “would’ve been able to look [himself] in the mirror” if he didn’t speak out. Radcliffe concluded, “But it’s not mine to guess what’s going on in someone else’s head.”
