Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan publicly criticized creator J.Okay. Rowling on friday, following the creator’s celebration of a controversial U.Okay. Supreme Courtroom ruling that decided trans girls aren’t legally thought-about girls. The choice, which sparked widespread debate, was met with approval from Rowling, who posted a photograph on X of herself holding a drink and smoking a cigar with a caption.
I love it when a plan comes together.#SupremeCourt #WomensRights pic.twitter.com/agOkWmhPgb
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 16, 2025
Nonetheless, Nicola didn’t maintain again. Sharing a publish from a newspapert titled “This Is a New Low for J.Okay. Rowling” on her Instagram Tales, she added her personal message: “Maintain your new Harry Potter lads.” The remark referenced the upcoming Harry Potter reboot collection, which Rowling is immediately concerned in, having taken half in deciding on the showrunner and govt producers. Nicola made it clear she needed no a part of the mission, saying she “wouldn’t contact [the series] with a ten-foot pole.”
She additionally continued to precise her solidarity with the trans group in a video posted to Instagram. “To see an already-marginalized group to be additional attacked in legislation is basically stomach-turning and disgusting, and these folks celebrating it [are] extra stomach-turning and disgusting,” she stated. Asserting her plan to lift funds for Not A Section, a U.Okay.-based charity that helps trans adults, Coughlan initially pledged to match donations as much as £10,000.
“If you’re a cisgender one that is an ally of a trans individual, I feel now’s the time to only communicate up and make your voice heard, and let your trans, nonbinary associates and simply the group at massive know that you just’re there for them and can hold combating for them,” she added.
By Friday, her marketing campaign had already raised practically £100,000, an quantity she confirmed on her Instagram Story.
Nicola joins a rising variety of public figures who’ve spoken out in opposition to Rowling’s views, which first drew intense backlash in 2020. Intercourse and the Metropolis star Cynthia Nixon famous how painful the creator’s remarks have been for her personal transgender son. Pete Davidson known as Rowling out throughout a phase on Saturday Night time Reside, bluntly asking, “What’s mistaken along with her?”
Even stars from the Harry Potter franchise have distanced themselves from Rowling’s stance. Daniel Radcliffe responded with an essay for The Trevor Challenge, writing, “To all of the individuals who now really feel that their expertise of the books has been tarnished or diminished, I’m deeply sorry for the ache these feedback have triggered you. I actually hope that you just don’t totally lose what was invaluable in these tales to you.”
Rupert Grint expressed related sentiments, telling The Sunday Instances, “I firmly stand with the trans group and echo the feelings expressed by lots of my friends. Trans girls are girls. Trans males are males.”
Emma Watson additionally made her place clear in a tweet: “Trans persons are who they are saying they’re and need to stay their lives with out being always questioned or informed they aren’t who they are saying they’re. I would like my trans followers to know that I and so many different folks around the globe see you, respect you and love you for who you might be.”
In a 2023 interview with The Atlantic, Dani as soon as once more addressed the controversy, sharing his dismay over Rowling’s statements. “Actually unhappy, in the end, as a result of I do take a look at the person who I met, the instances that we met, and the books that she wrote and the world that she created, and all of that’s to me so deeply empathic,” he stated. “Clearly, Harry Potter wouldn’t have occurred with out her, so nothing in my life would have most likely occurred the best way it’s with out that individual. However that doesn’t imply that you just owe the stuff you actually imagine to another person in your total life.”
