“Harry Potter” star Robbie Coltrane defended J.K. Rowling and said he didn’t “think what she said was offensive” following the author’s tweets that some deemed were transphobic.
“I don’t think what she said was offensive really,” the 70-year-old actor reportedly shared during an interview with Radio Times, per Fox News in a piece published Wednesday. (RELATED: J.K. Rowling Launches ‘Harry Potter At Home’ While Schools Remain Closed Due To Coronavirus)
“I don’t know why but there’s a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended,” he added.
Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid in ‘Harry Potter,’ defends J.K. Rowling’s transphobic remarks https://t.co/ofHhMMmLzw pic.twitter.com/0zENLEkY7p
— New York Post (@nypost) September 15, 2020
The actor, who famously played Rubeus Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” film franchise, continued, “They wouldn’t have won the war, would they? That’s me talking like a grumpy old man, but you just think, ‘Oh, get over yourself. Wise up, stand up straight and carry on.'”
Coltrane then explained how he didn’t want to comment further “because of all the hate mail and all that s - - t — which I don’t need at my time of life.”
His comments came out the same day Rowling released her latest book about a “transvestite serial killer” called “Troubled Blood.”
As previously reported, in June the famous author came under attack after she tweeted an article from the web site Devex titled, “Creating a more equal post COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.”
“People who menstruate,” Rowling tweeted. “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
A backlash ensued against the author who later responded, “If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”