'Fantastic Beasts' star Eddie Redmayne calls 'vitriol' aimed at J.K. Rowling 'absolutely disgusting'
Eddie Redmayne has said that the targeting of J.K. Rowling over her comments on transgender issues has been “absolutely disgusting.”
Redmayne, who plays stars in the Rowling-penned Fantastic Beasts movies, said that he does not agree with her stance, but was alarmed at the “vitriol” that has been directed at the author, and has addressed it in a “personal note” to her.
He added that the insults hurled at transgender people on social media are “equally disgusting.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Redmayne said that he has “trans friends and colleagues” who are “having their human rights challenged around the world and facing discrimination on a daily basis.”
He went on: “Similarly, there continues to be a hideous torrent of abuse towards trans people online and out in the world that is devastating.”
Famously, Redmayne starred in The Danish Girl in 2015, a biopic of the pioneering transgender artist Lili Elbe.
Rowling has received backlash after taking issue with an online article which described “people who menstruate.”
The Harry Potter writer noted that the word “women'“appeared to be missing, but objections were then raised over the fact that those transitioning can still menstruate.
Following the backlash, she penned a long essay defending her right to discuss issues of gender and sexuality as a survivor of sexual assault and abuse.
However, the controversy resurfaced after it emerged that her new novel, part of her Cormoran Strike series and written under her Robert Galbraith pseudonym, contained reference to a male character who murders while dressed as a woman.
Over the weekend, a large group of actors and writers, including the likes of authors Ian McEwan and Lionel Shriver and actors Griff Rhys Jones and Frances Barber, signed an open letter in support of Rowling published in the Sunday Times.
It objected to the “hate speech” directed at Rowling “in the hope that, if more people stand up against the targeting of women online, we might at least make it less acceptable to engage in it or profit from it.”
“I'm profoundly grateful to all the signatories, not only on a personal level, (though believe me, I'm EXTREMELY grateful on that level), but because the signatories are showing solidarity with all the women who're currently speaking up for their own rights and facing threats of violence and even death in return,” Rowling said in her response on Twitter.
