If the tweet is about Watson—which many online users on both sides believe—that’s a bit dramatic, considering Watson did not even mention Rowling in her statement back in 2020. All she said at the time was, “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”
Days later, Rowling says more.
Well, this is unambiguous. In addition to praising a spoof of Watson’s interview, Rowling issues a lengthy statement about, among other things, the ongoing back-and-forth via the media between her and Watson and Radcliffe, noting that while both actors have the right to embrace whatever “ideology” they choose and share their opinions, it seemingly bothers her that they are “spokespeople for the world [she] created.”
She goes on to contrast her own upbringing to Watson’s, pointing out that thanks to the money and privilege afforded Watson by virtue of the Potter movies, Watson has never been in the vulnerable spaces where, in Rowling’s view, cis women are vulnerable to attack because of trans inclusion.
Additionally, Rowling claims that at the height of the vitriol against her, which included death and rape threats, Watson arranged for someone to pass her a handwritten note expressing sympathy, while at the same time publicly calling her out, which Rowling says intensified the backlash. She says that she’d previously held off speaking about Radcliffe, Watson, and the other members of the Potter cast out of protectiveness, but hints that, basically, the gloves are now off.
SNL responds again.
During the SNL season premiere on October 4, Bowen Yang put on some new prosthetics to share his thoughts on the discourse as Dobby the house-elf during Weekend Update.
“Scared? Why would Dobby be scared, sir? Dobby’s just about to publicly weigh in on trans people, that’s all,” Yang begins the sketch. “Master sent Dobby to go on the telly and define, once and for all, what a woman is, sir!”
Dobby’s “master,” in this case, is J.K. Rowling, who he says “has done so much for Dobby and for inclusion in general.” Some of his examples: “Remember when Dumbledore was gay, after the books came out? And when Hermione was Black, only on Broadway? And when Cho Chang was…hmm…was Cho Chang Asian? Dobby can’t remember if the character Cho Chang was Asian.”
As Dobby, Yang goes on to explain that “women’s bathrooms are for women only…and girls…and ghosts of girls.”
As usual, Yang fully commits to this performance, jumping over the desk to bang his head against the camera for being “millennial cringe.” Michael Che, however, hasn’t read the “corny-ass books” and asks Dobby to explain why he’s punishing himself.
“Why? Dobby doesn’t know,” Yang says as Dobby. “Perhaps because house-elves are somehow always the problem, even though we’re only 1% of the population, but house-elves aren’t the victims. Master Rowling is.” Obviously, he’s no longer talking about fictional house-elves.