Eddie Redmayne: 'Vitriol' JK Rowling received over transgender rights comments is 'absolutely disgusting'
Eddie Redmayne has said the "vitriol" JK Rowling has received over her comments on transgender rights is "absolutely disgusting".
The actor said he was alarmed by the abuse directed at the Harry Potter author and revealed he had sent her a private note.
Redmayne spoke out during filming for the third Fantastic Beasts film, produced and co-written by Rowling, in which he plays a leading role.
He added that his “trans friends and colleagues” are “facing discrimination on a daily basis”.
“Similarly, there continues to be a hideous torrent of abuse towards trans people online and out in the world that is devastating," he said.
Redmayne's apparent defence of Rowling comes after he publicly disagreed with her lengthy essay on transgender rights.
He said at the time: "As someone who has worked with both JK Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand. I disagree with Jo’s comments. Trans women are women, trans men are men and nonbinary identities are valid.”
Rowling, 54, sparked heated debate about sex and gender in June after taking issue with the headline of an opinion piece published by Devex, which read: "Opinion: Creating a more equal post Covid-19 world for people who menstruate".
The writer shared the article with her Twitter followers and added: "'People who menstruate'. I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?"
Her comments sparked accusations of being "anti-trans" and "transphobic" from people on social media who said transgender, non-binary and gender-nonconforming individuals could also menstruate.
Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter, and his co-star Emma Watson both publicly denounced Rowling's comments.
In response to the row, Rowling published an essay in which she spoke of her first marriage to Jorge Arantes, a Portuguese journalist. She also referred to a serious sexual assault that happened in her 20s.
“This isn’t an easy piece to write… but I know it’s time to explain myself on an issue surrounded by toxicity,” she began.
“I managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty, but I’m now married to a truly good and principled man, safe and secure in ways I never in a million years expected to be. However, the scars left don’t disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money you’ve made.”
She said she felt great solidarity with trans women who have been victims of violence, despite what her detractors believe.
She wrote: “I pray my daughters never have the same reasons I do for hating sudden loud noises, or finding people behind me when I haven’t heard them approaching.
“If you could come inside my head and understand what I feel when I read about a trans woman dying at the hands of a violent man, you’d find solidarity and kinship. I have a visceral sense of the terror in which those trans women will have spent their last seconds on Earth, because I too have known moments of blind fear when I realised that the only thing keeping me alive was the shaky self-restraint of my attacker.”
Responding to Rowling's claims, Mr Arantes told The Sun newspaper: “I slapped Joanne - but there was not sustained abuse. I’m not sorry for slapping her." He added: “It’s not true I hit her.”
