Despite having a friendly working relationship in the past, with Stephen Fry famously narrating the Harry Potter audiobooks, it seems he and the author JK Rowling are no longer on amicable terms. This is in large part due to Rowling’s gender-critical views on trans rights.

‘She started to make these peculiar statements and had very strong, difficult views,’ he said while appearing on The Show People podcast. ‘She seemed to wake up, or kick, a hornets’ nest of transphobia, which has been entirely destructive. I disagree profoundly with her on this subject.’

He added, ‘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.’

Rowling has become a conspicuous figure in recent years and an ardent campaigner for women-only spaces, defining ‘women-only’ as those born female. In April, she publicly celebrated when the Supreme Court ruled that a woman was defined by biological sex under equality law. She had donated £70,000 to the campaign group For Women Scotland, which brought a case against the Scottish government arguing that sex-based protections should only apply to people who were born female.

Rowling was one of the most prominent public figures on the ruling, sharing a photograph of her smoking a cigar on social media with the caption: ‘I love it when a plan comes together.’

It began in 2017 and 2018 when the author liked a series of tweets that criticised the movement to improve rights for, and better support, transgender people (transgender people face increasing rates of discrimination and hate crimes, with one quarter attempting suicide each year) . In 2019, she spoke in defence of British researcher Maya Forstater, whose work contract wasn’t renewed because of transphobic comments she made on social media. ‘Dress however you please,’ Rowling posted on X. ‘Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya.’

In the years that followed, Rowling have become increasingly vocal on the subject. In 2020, she shared an article on her website where she raised concerns about ‘the new trans activism’ including the effects on female healthcare, education, safeguarding, and freedom of speech, as well as the laws around transitioning. ‘I want trans women to be safe,’ she wrote. ‘At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman – and, as I’ve said, gender confirmation certificates may not be granted without any need for surgery or hormones – then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside.’

In response to a petition on trans people’s ability to self-identify in May, the Government said it is ‘committed to modernising, simplifying and reforming the legal gender recognition process to remove indignities for trans people’ but will ‘not introduce self-identification as part of these reforms’.

Rowling’s involvement in debating trans rights has invited a great deal of criticism over the years, especially since the Supreme Court ruling. ‘She has been radicalised, I fear, and it may be she has been radicalised by Terfs [trans-exclusionary radical feminists] but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her,’ Fry continued, referring to the death threats Rowling has received as a result of her views. ‘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.’

Suggesting that their relationship had come to an end, Fry added, ‘I am sorry because I always liked her company. I found her charming, funny and interesting – and then this thing happened and it completely altered the way she talks and engages with the world now.’

‘She has crowed at the success of legislation in Scotland and elsewhere declaring things about gender,’ the actor and broadcaster continued. ‘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 a sharp and difficult nature is that it is much more important to be effective than to be right.’

Fry is not alone in his public condemnation of Rowling’s views. The three lead actors in Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, have all spoken out in defence of trans rights, distancing themselves from the author. In an interview with The Atlantic last year, Radcliffe described the ‘rupture’ in his relationship with Rowling as ‘really sad’. He had previously issued a statement through the LGBTQ+ suicide-prevention group, the Trevor Project, saying, ‘Transgender women are women. 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 Jo or I.’

Watson also signed a pro-trans open letter along with 400 other industry professionals opposing Rowling’s stance ahead of the Supreme Court ruling in May. She also shared an Instagram Story which reads, ‘To the person who said they like me best when I am not ranting about politics: I like me best when I am not ignoring fascism.’

Grint has also said, ‘I stand firmly with the trans community,’ and emphasised that ‘trans women are women’ with posts on social media.

Given how public the fallout between the three actors and Rowling has been, the author seemed to mock them last month when an X user asked her, ‘What actor/ actress instantly ruins a movie for you?’. She responded, ‘Three guesses. Sorry, but that was irresistible.’