Emma Watson has responded to JK Rowling's comments that she and her Harry Potter stars should 'save their apologies' when it came to the author's controversial LGBTQ+ comments.
Rowling made headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2020, after she made a number of claims and statements about the transgender community.
Despite writing the book series, which would be adapted into the film series which launched their acting careers, stars Watson, Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe have since spoken out against Rowling's stance, with the actor behind Harry Potter himself stating that ‘transgender women are women’ and anything on the contrary to that is wrong.
One of the author's several jabs at the transgender community involved her mocking an article that said 'people who menstruate' by pretending the word had escaped her, asking 'Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?'
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Watson has previously clarified her opinion on the matter through a cryptic Instagram story this May, which read: "To the person who said they like me best when I am not ranting about politics: I like me best when I am not ignoring fascism."
Originally, the Harry Potter author said the former child actors were 'not safe, I'm afraid', when someone asked if it was 'safe to say' she'd accept apologies from them.
"Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women's hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces," she claimed.
But now, Watson has been asked directly about Rowling and whether her comments have changed anything for her when she looks back on her time as Hermione Granger.
The British actress appeared as a guest on the 'On Purpose With Jay Shetty' podcast, where the host asked her specifically about Rowling claiming she would 'never forgive' them, as well as that she and her co-stars 'ruin' the films for her.
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“I really don’t believe that by having had that experience and holding the love and support and views that I have, mean that I can’t and don’t treasure Jo and the person that I had personal experiences with,” she explained.
“I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person, I don’t get to keep and cherish to come back to our earlier thing,
“I just don’t think these things are either or. I think it’s my deepest wish that I hope people who don’t agree with my opinion will love me and I hope I can keep loving people who I don’t necessarily share the same opinion with,” the 35-year-old said.
The actor opened up about how it all made her feel, admitting: “I think the thing I’m most upset about is that a conversation was never made possible.”
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When asked if Watson was open to having that discussion, she confirmed: “Yeah, and I always will. I believe in that. I believe in that completely.”
When it comes to feuds with the author, Grint also made his stance clear with a statement in 2020, reading: "Trans women are women. Trans men are men."
Radcliffe even said the fallout made him 'really sad', but added that he didn't 'owe' the author anything even if the film franchise was a success.
Topics: Emma Watson, JK Rowling, Harry Potter, Celebrity, Podcast
Joshua Nair