JK Rowling Slams Emma Watson After Recent Comments: 'Ignorant of How Ignorant She Is'

"I'm here for ALL the spoofs," Rowling first wrote on X over the weekend, while resharing a video from IntelLady, in which the self-described "satirist" impersonates Watson's appearance on Jay Shetty's podcast last week. "Emma Watson finally breaks her silence and shares her truth about the rift with JK Rowling," the comedian captioned the post, adding, "Spoiler alert - You may need some vinaigrette to consume this."

Then, on Monday, Rowling posted a lengthier response after all the media attention on Watson's comments, claiming she's "not owed eternal agreement from any actor who once played a character I created. The idea is as ludicrous as me checking with the boss I had when I was twenty-one for what opinions I should hold these days."

She added that "Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn't want to see any of them threatened with loss of work, or violence, or death, because of them."

"However, Emma and Dan in particular have both made it clear over the last few years that they think our former professional association gives them a particular right - nay, obligation - to critique me and my views in public," Rowling continued. "Years after they finished acting in Potter, they continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created."

Rowling said she's turned down interviews in recent years for anything having to do with "Emma specifically," saying she "didn't want her to be hounded as the result of anything I said." She also said that the breaking point for her was when Watson presented an award at the 2022 BAFTAs and said, "I'm here for all the witches" -- which many interpreted as a dig at Rowling.

After that appearance, Rowling claimed Watson then had someone give her a handwritten note "which contained the single sentence 'I'm so sorry for what you're going through' (she has my phone number)."

She added, "This was back when the death, rape and torture threats against me were at their peak, at a time when my personal security measures had had to be tightened considerably and I was constantly worried for my family's safety. Emma had just publicly poured more petrol on the flames, yet thought a one line expression of concern from her would reassure me of her fundamental sympathy and kindness."

"Like other people who've never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she's ignorant of how ignorant she is," Rowling continued, slamming Watson as someone who will never need to use any of the public spaces the author is trying to keep the trans community out of.

"I wasn't a multimillionaire at fourteen. I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous. I therefore understand from my own life experience what the trashing of women's rights in which Emma has so enthusiastically participated means to women and girls without her privileges," Rowling wrote. "The greatest irony here is that, had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me - a change of tack I suspect she's adopted because she's noticed full-throated condemnation of me is no longer quite as fashionable as it was - I might never have been this honest."

She then concluded, "Adults can't expect to cosy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend's assassination, then assert their right to the former friend's love, as though the friend was in fact their mother. Emma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public - but I have the same right, and I've finally decided to exercise it."

Emma Watson gave a very measured response when asked about her opinion on J.K. Rowling, and the Harry Potter author's comments about her in the wake of Watson's support of the trans community.

The actress, who starred as Hermione Granger in all the film adaptations of Rowling's work, appeared on the On Purpose with Jay Shetty podcast for a rare interview this week. At one point in the conversation, Shetty said he wanted to bring up a "difficult and challenging" topic, the topic being Rowling's recent comments about Watson.

While the actress has never directly called out Rowling for her controversial stance on transgender issues and trans rights, she has made it known she does not share the same opinions.

In June 2020, Watson said, "Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are." She followed up, writing, "I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are."

In the years since, Rowling said anyone like Watson or Daniel Radcliffe, who she believes "cozied 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" when one fan said they were waiting for the two actors "to give you a very public apology."

In another viral moment, Rowling was asked "what actor/actress instantly ruins a movie for you," responding, "Three guesses. Sorry, but that was irresistible." Though she didn't say their names, many assumed she was talking about Watson, Radcliffe and Rupert Grint, who has also shown support for the trans community.

"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," Watson said when asked how she handles comments from Rowling.

"I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experience of that person, I don't get to keep and cherish ... I don't think these things are either/or," she continued. "I think it's my deepest wish that like 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."

"I really do believe in having conversations and that those are really important. I guess where I've landed is, it's not so much what we say or what we believe, but very often how we say it that's really important," she told Shetty. "I see this world right now where we seem to be giving permission for this kind of throwing out of people or that people are disposable and I just think that's ... I will always think that's wrong. I just believe that no one is disposable and everyone, as far as possible, whatever the conversation is, should and can be treated with, at the very least, dignity and respect."

When it comes to Rowling, however, Watson said she's "most upset" that a "conversation was never made possible" with them on the subject. When asked whether she was still open to having that dialogue, she added, "Yeah, and I always will."

"I just don't want to say anything that continues to weaponize a really toxic debate and conversation, which is maybe why ... it is why I don't comment or continue to comment," she added. "Not because I don't care about her or the issue, but the way that the conversation is being hard is really painful to me. That's why that decision."

See what more franchise stars have said about Rowling's beliefs below.