Actor who plays 'Voldemort' defends J.K. Rowling amid death threats and 'transphobia' criticism

AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

Ralph Fiennes, who starred in the “Harry Potter” movies as Voldemort, defended author J.K. Rowling from critics, joining a growing chorus of voices opposed to the threats against the author’s life from pro-transgender activists. 

Critics have escalated their online criticisms of the author into real-world threats based on claims that the popular children’s author is guilty of “transphobia” for her women’s rights advocacy. As reported by the Rebel, Rowling has faced death threats – including one by a trans activist who sang about “killing TERFs” and putting Rowling “in a hearse.” 

Speaking to The New York Times, Fiennes broke his silence on the matter and defended Rowling as an author whose works have empowered the lives of many young children.

“J.K. Rowling has written these great books about empowerment, about young children finding themselves as human beings,” Fiennes said. “It’s about how you become a better, stronger, more morally centered human being. The verbal abuse directed at her is disgusting, it’s appalling.”

Fiennes, who played the iconic villain Voldemort in the HP series, said that he shared a different perspective of Rowling from that of her critics.

“I mean, I can understand a viewpoint that might be angry at what she says about women. But it’s not some obscene, über-right-wing fascist. It’s just a woman saying, ‘I’m a woman and I feel I’m a woman and I want to be able to say that I’m a woman,'” Fiennes said. 

“And I understand where she’s coming from,” the actor added. “Even though I’m not a woman.” 

Fiennes is not the only actor to speak out in defence of the author. Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the series, broke ranks with actors Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe who publicly distanced themselves from the author over her views. 

In a recent interview on BBC Breakfast, Felton expressed his gratitude to Rowling. 

“I am quick to remind myself and others that ‘Potter’ for some reason has brought more people together across the world and more generations than probably anything else has in the past 20 years, and I'm quick to celebrate that,” he said. “It came from one person, and that's her, so I'm very grateful.”