Michelle Gomez has insisted that she ‘supports trans rights without hesitation’ after facing backlash for her casting in a Harry Potter audiobook.
The Scottish star, 58, will voice the role of Professor McGonagall in the upcoming audiobook series Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions – a collaboration between Audible and Pottermore Publishing, of which the latter is owned by author JK Rowling.
Rowling, 59, has faced intense criticism in recent years for her gender critical views, including from several stars of the Harry Potter films.
The author has denied being transphobic, but she previously said she would ‘happily’ go to jail for misgendering a trans person and is using the new Harry Potter TV series to fund organisations dedicated to removing trans rights.
Her ‘Women’s Fund’ website says it will offer financial support to those fighting trans inclusion ‘in the workplace, in public life, and in protected female spaces’.
After fans branded Michelle’s involvement in the audiobook ‘disappointing’ she released a statement on Wednesday directed at the LGBTQ+ community, in which she said she was ‘taking accountability’.
Michelle Gomez insisted that she ‘supports trans rights without hesitation’ in statement on Instagram on Wednesday after facing backlash for her casting in a Harry Potter audiobook (Seen in March)
The Scottish star, 58, will voice the role of Professor McGonagall in the upcoming audiobook series Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions
‘To my LGBTQ+ fans, and especially the trans community: I want to speak directly to the concerns that have been raised about my involvement in this project,’ Michelle wrote on her Instagram Story.
‘I hear you, and I understand why this is painful for many. I want to be clear that I stand with trans people, and I support trans rights – fully and without hesitation.
‘When I accepted this role, I did so as someone who has always loved the stories and what they meant to so many – especially those who found comfort and identity in that world.’
She continued: ‘I now understand more clearly how deeply complicated and hurtful this association can feel, and I take that seriously.
‘Being an ally means listening even when it’s uncomfortable and taking accountability where it’s needed. I’m committed to doing both.’
In the next slide, Michelle shared a screenshot of a donation she had made to Callen-Lorde, an LGBTQ+ health organisation in New York.
The adult cast of Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions includes Hugh Laurie as Albus Dumbledore, Matthew Macfadyen as Lord Voldemort, Riz Ahmed as Professor Snape, and Cush Jumbo as narrator.
In June, Harry Potter audiobook narrator Sir Stephen Fry branded Rowling a ‘lost cause’ and accused her of being ‘radicalised by TERFs’.
Rowling, 59, has faced intense criticism in recent years for her gender critical views, including from several stars of the Harry Potter films (Seen on her superyacht in the aftermath of April’s Supreme Court ruling)
After fans branded Michelle’s involvement in the audiobook ‘disappointing’ she released a statement on Wednesday directed at the LGBTQ+ community, in which she said she was ‘taking accountability’
In the next slide, Michelle shared a screenshot of a donation she had made to Callen-Lorde, an LGBTQ+ health organisation in New York
The comedian and television presenter told how he used to have dinner regularly with the author and described her views towards the trans community as ‘strange’.
Recording podcast The Show People last week, Sir Stephen, who is himself gay, said: ‘She has been radicalised I fear and it may be she has been radicalised by TERFs, but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her.
‘It is unhelpful and only hardens her and will only continue to harden her I am afraid. I am not saying that she not be called out when she says things that are really cruel, wrong and mocking. She seems to be a lost cause for us.’
Sir Stephen recorded audio books for all seven of the Harry Potter series, but has now turned his back on the author, accusing her of ‘mocking’ LGBT+ people and insisting he supports the trans community.
He said: ‘She started to make these peculiar statements and had very strong difficult views. She seemed to wake up or kick a hornet’s nest of transphobia which has been entirely destructive.
‘I disagree profoundly with her on this subject. I am angry she does not disavow some of the more revolting and truly horrible, destructive violently destructive things that people say. She does not attack those at all.
‘She says things that are inflammatory and contemptuous, mocking and add to a terribly distressing time for trans people. She has crowed at the success of legislation in Scotland and elsewhere declaring things about gender.
‘So I am very happy to go on the record to say that I am really angry about that. My view about all things of sharp and difficult nature is that is is much more important to be effective than to be right.’
The adult cast of Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions includes Hugh Laurie as Albus Dumbledore, Matthew Macfadyen as Lord Voldemort, Riz Ahmed as Professor Snape, and Cush Jumbo as narrator
Speaking at a podcast recording in June, Sir Stephen Fry (right) said he feared Rowling is a ‘lost cause’ who has been ‘radicalised by TERFs’
Meanwhile Papa Essiedu, the actor chosen to play Severus Snape in HBO’s Harry Potter series, has also made his support for the trans community known amid backlash to signing on to the series.
Paapa, who this summer will begin filming the show that will make him a multi-millionaire, signed an open letter standing ‘in solidarity’ with members of the LGBT+ community ‘impacted’ by the Supreme Court gender ruling.
Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne, who led the Fantastic Beasts films, Katie Leung, who played Cho Chang in the Harry Potter film series, and Ghosts actress Charlotte Ritchie, who appeared as a student in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, also signed the letter.
Another signatory was Bridgerton actress Bessie Carter, the daughter of Dame Imelda Staunton, who played Dolores Umbridge in the popular films, and Breeders star Daisy Haggard, who voiced the Ministry Of Magic lift in the Harry Potter films.
Earlier this year, Harry Potter star Sean Biggerstaff, who played Oliver Wood in the films, savaged Rowling on social media, calling her an ‘obsessed billionaire’ and ‘bigoted’ for her views on trans rights.
He starred alongside the trio in first two Harry Potter movies – The Philosopher’s Stone and the Chamber of Secrets – and returned for a brief, uncredited cameo in the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
Although distancing himself from Rowling herself and forthrightly speaking out against her, Biggerstaff remains involved with the wider Harry Potter universe and often attends fan conventions, doing so as recently as February of this year.
And the films’ main star Daniel Radcliffe has long been a supporter of the trans community.
Meanwhile Papa Essiedu, the actor chosen to play Severus Snape in HBO ‘s Harry Potter series, has also made his support for the trans community known
Speaking out against Rowling after she made a series of anti-trans posts of X, then Twitter, in 2020, Daniel said in a letter to The Trevor Project that ‘trans women are women’.
He added: ‘Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either [J.K.] or I.’
Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the multi-billion-pound movie franchise, has also been among those speaking out in the past in opposition to the writer’s opinions on gender.
After the same tweets made by Rowling in 2020, Emma also made a statement, writing: ‘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.
‘I want my trans followers to know that I and so many people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.’
Meanwhile Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley, said he has a ‘tricky’ relationship with Rowling, and while he is grateful for her role in his career, he does not agree with her.
‘I am hugely grateful for everything that she’s done,’ he told the Times. ‘I think that she’s extremely talented. I mean, clearly her works are genius. But I think also you can have huge respect for someone and still disagree with things like that.’
Rowling, 59, has faced intense criticism in recent years for her gender critical views, including from several stars of the Harry Potter films such as Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson (Both seen with Rowling and Rupert Grint in 2010)
Ginny Weasley actor Bonnie Wright has also made her feelings known, saying: ‘If Harry Potter was a source of love and belonging for you, that love is infinite and there to take without judgment or question. Transwomen are Women.’
Harry Melling, who starred as Harry’s cousin Dudley Dursley, told The Independent: ‘I can only speak for myself, and what I feel, to me, is very simple, which is that transgender women are women and transgender men are men.’
Widely branded a trans ally, David Tennant, who appeared in the film Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, has previously said of people who hold ant-trans views: ‘It’s a tiny bunch of little whinging f****** [that] are on the wrong side of history and they’ll all go away soon.’
But when asked about Rowling earlier this year on The Assembly, he opted for a more diplomatic response, saying: ‘J.K. Rowling is a wonderful author who’s created brilliant stories, and I wish her no ill will.
‘But I hope that we can all, as a society, just let people be. Just get out of people’s way.’
