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17 June 2025

Jason Isaacs on JK Rowling: ‘I don’t understand who she is on Twitter’

Isaacs commented on Rowling's anti trans views, saying: "It’s not my argument or discussion to have. But if there’s a vote, I know which side I’ll be voting"

By Gary Grimes

Jason Isaacs
(Images: HBO/Warner Bros)

Harry Potter star Jason Isaacs has given a new interview in which he acknowledges JK Rowling‘s status as an anti-trans figurehead.

Speaking to Vulture recently, Isaacs, who starred as Lucius Malfoy in the fantasy film series, was asked what he made of Rowling’s views.

“I’ve met her once for about two minutes,” the actor responded, before explaining he met her when he worked for her charity LumosRowling in 2005.

“People want me to talk about J.K Rowling’s attitude to trans people all the time. And initially, I went, ‘I don’t know her well enough, and I’m a straight white man in late middle age, and it’s not for me to opine on feminist and trans issues’,” The White Lotus star continued.

“But then I championed this fabulous trans comedian, Jordan Gray, and wrote about her, and I suddenly became a poster boy for trans rights. It was interpreted as me putting the knife into Jo, and it wasn’t.”

Isaacs went on to say that the writer’s behaviour on X, formerly known as Twitter, confuses him. “I don’t understand who she is on Twitter. But then that’s true of almost anybody online. It’s a place where people scream abuse at each other,” he said.

“It’s not my argument or discussion to have. But if there’s a vote, I know which side I’ll be voting” – Jason Isaacs

“And I’ve heard her arguments when she explained herself in that seven-part podcast, The Witch Trials of J.K Rowling, which I listened to. She says in that something like, ‘I may be on the wrong side of history, but this is what I feel very strongly.’

“It’s not my argument or discussion to have. But if there’s a vote, I know which side I’ll be voting.”

Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy, the son of Isaacs’s character, recently made headlines after being asked if the controversy around Rowling’s views affected his decision to return to the franchise to play Draco again in the Broadway production Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

“I can’t say it does, I’m not really that attuned it,” Felton told Variety on the red carpet of the Tony Awards. “The only thing I always remind myself is that I’ve been lucky enough to travel the world — here I am in New York — and I have not seen anything bring the world together more than ‘Potter,’ and she’s responsible for that, so I’m incredibly grateful.”

Despite criticism from fans for these comments, Issacs’ reached out to Felton on X, writing: “Saw you presenting on the Tonys tonight son – you looked good, sounded good and did great. Tickets booked for November.”

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