J.K. Rowling has launched fresh criticism at Emma Watson, calling the Harry Potter actor “ignorant” and accusing her of hypocrisy.
In a lengthy new post on X, the author detailed their rift, claiming Watson once privately expressed sympathy over the d**th threats she received, even as the Harry Potter star publicly opposed her views.
The clash has reignited a yearslong feud that began in 2020 and shows no signs of fading.
J.K. Rowling accused Emma Watson of speaking from privilege
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In her post, Rowling recalled a handwritten note allegedly passed on by Watson during the height of the backlash against her.
The note was reportedly passed to her following Watson’s comments during the 2022 BAFTAs, when she said she was “here for all the witches,” before seemingly muttering “bar one.”
Watson’s message, Rowling said, contained a single line: “I’m so sorry for what you’re going through.”
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Rowling claimed this was sent at a time when she was tightening her personal security amid “d**th, r**e and torture threats” and she was actively worried about her family’s safety.
The Harry Potter author said she found the gesture hollow. “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,” Rowling wrote in her X post.
The author then accused Watson of being sheltered from “real life” struggles that only a person who was not raised with privilege could understand.
“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. She’ll never need a homeless shelter. She’s never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward.”
Image credits: Jay Shetty Podcast
“Is she ever likely to need a state-run r**e crisis centre that refuses to guarantee an all-female service? To find herself sharing a prison cell with a male rapist who’s identified into the women’s prison?” Rowling wrote.
Rowling contrasted this with her own past: “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.”
Emma Watson extended the proverbial olive branch towards Rowling in a recent podcast appearance
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The renewed feud comes after Watson spoke on Jay Shetty’s podcast, where she reflected on her relationship with Rowling. While acknowledging their differences, Watson emphasized that she still values the author.
“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. I will never believe that one negates the other,” Watson said.
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Watson had first publicly distanced herself from Rowling in 2020, joining co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint in voicing support for the transgender community, according to Variety.
At the time, she 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.”
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On Shetty’s podcast, Watson left the door open for reconciliation with Rowling. “Yeah, and I always will. I believe in that. I believe in that completely,” she said.
Unfortunately for Watson, her comments were not received well by some social media users, as evidenced by comments posted on Bluesky following her podcast appearance.
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“Very bad take from Emma Watson. She is showing that is she is no ally. She used trans rights to boost her career. Now she’s abandoning us when we need her. She needs to apologize or face consequences,” one commenter wrote.
“Well, Emma Watson can f**k right on off. Bigotry and christo-f**cist anti-science viewpoints are not opinions or disagreements. It’s just bigotry and willful ignorance, and extremely dangerous to the safety of minorities,” wrote another Bluesky user.
Image credits: Warner Bros.
“Remaining neutral in the face of oppression isn’t compassion. It’s siding with the oppressor. F**k both of them, actually,” another commenter wrote.
Rowling says Watson and Radcliffe act as “spokespeople”
Image credits: Warner Bros.
Rowling made it clear that she believes Watson and Radcliffe have used their Harry Potter association to criticize her views. “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,” she wrote.
She said she had deliberately avoided commenting on Watson in the past out of protectiveness, remembering her as the child she directed through her earliest “Potter” lines. But Watson’s new interview, Rowling claimed, had changed that.
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“Had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me…I might never have been this honest.
“Adults can’t expect to cosy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend’s a**assination, then assert their right to the former friend’s love, as though the friend was in fact their mother,” Rowling wrote.
Netizens shared their thoughts on J.K. Rowling’s latest comments towards Emma Watson on social media
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