Eddie Izzard defends J.K. Rowling, says she doesn't believe author is transphobic

Eddie Izzard is sharing her thoughts on J.K. Rowling, whose controversial comments about the trans community have been widely condemned as transphobic.

Izzard, who recently announced she is gender-fluid and identifies with she/her pronouns, defended the Harry Potter author, who has come under fire for comments she made on Twitter and later in an essay about her views on gender. The piece was slammed by organizations like GLAAD, as well as by Hollywood stars like Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, who starred in the Harry Potter films based on Rowling's books.

In a new interview with The Telegraph, Izzard said she's followed the controversy but doesn't believe Rowling is transphobic.

"I don't think J.K. Rowling is transphobic," she said. "I think we need to look at the things she has written about in her blog. Women have been through such hell over history. Trans people have been invisible, too. I hate the idea we are fighting between ourselves, but it's not going to be sorted with the wave of a wand. I don't have all the answers. If people disagree with me, fine, but why are we going through hell on this?"

British actor John Cleese recently reiterated his previous public support of Rowling in the matter, and wrote on Twitter, "I'm afraid I'm not that interested in trans folks."

In a controversial essay published on her website in June 2020, Rowling wrote, "I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode 'woman' as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it."

Stating that she's a survivor of sexual assault and domestic abuse, she added, "So I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he's a woman ... then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside."

GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis responded to the piece, calling it a "misinformed and dangerous missive about transgender people" that "flies in the face of medical and psychological experts and devalues trans people accounts of their own lives."

Related content:

• Eddie Izzard announces she/her pronouns
• Every Harry Potter actor who has spoken out against J.K. Rowling's controversial anti-trans comments
• John Cleese criticized for tweets about 'trans folks'