NEWSJ.K. Rowling Rips Apart John Oliver for Supporting Trans Athletes: 'Read The F------ Room'
J.K. Rowling slammed John Oliver over his support of trans athletes, telling him to 'read the f------ room.'
John Oliver advocating for trans rights on a recent episode of his show is not sitting well with Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.
John Oliver and J.K. Rowling previously got into it in November 2024.
On the April 6 episode of Last Week Tonight, Oliver took a bulk of time to criticize the right-wing's “obsession” with banning trans athletes from sports, including at the school level.
Rowling took to her social media to respond, writing, “I understand why men like Oliver, who’ve consistently mocked anti-science people on the right, sold out initially. They didn’t want to blow up their careers. Taking fashionable anti-women’s rights positions was the cost of doing business. But it’s time to read the f------- room.”
During his discussion of trans rights/sports, Oliver referenced Rowling, who previosly called him an “undoubtedly intelligent person” who “spouts absolute bulls---."
J.K. Rowling said John Oliver 'spouts absolute bulls---.'
“It feels a bit weird to catch that much heat from the creator of Harry Potter, especially when I clearly look like what would have happened to him if they left him in that cupboard for the rest of his life,” Oliver noted, adding he “stands by everything” he said last year that set off Rowling in the first place.
When addressing trans participation in sports in November 2024, he said, “There are vanishingly few trans girls competing in high schools anywhere. Even if there were more, trans kids — like all kids — vary in athletic ability and there is no evidence they pose any threat to safety or fairness… if you genuinely want to address the biggest concern for most girls who play high school sports, you’d be less worried about this and more about the creepy assistant volleyball coach who keeps liking their posts on f----- Instagram.”
At the time, Rowling’s noted she kept coming up “against men” who had the “very same talking points” Oliver did.
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Daniel Radcliffe noted J.K. Rowling's anti-trans views make him 'really sad.'
“With a straight face, the ‘believe the science’ guys will say ‘actually, we don’t yet have enough data to say whether men and boys are stronger and faster than women and girls,’” she stated. “The ‘be kind’ crew can’t see what the issue is.”
“If you want to tell the world you’re happy to watch females suffer injury, humiliation and the loss of sporting opportunities to bolster an elitist post-modern ideology embraced by a minute fraction of the world’s population, fair enough; you’re allowed your opinion,” she concluded. “But if you’ve just told girls they don’t deserve fair sport, maybe rethink using all too real and common sexual predation against young women as a punchline for your ‘edgy’ closing joke.”
John Oliver said he stands by everything he initially said that upset J.K. Rowling.
As OK! reported, Daniel Radcliffe, who famously portrayed Harry Potter in the movies, noted Rowling’s views make him “really sad” because he looks “at the person that I met, the times that we met, and the books that she wrote, and the world that she created, and all of that is to me so deeply empathic."
