Tom Felton, who rose to fame playing Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, says he JK Rowling’s openly transphobic views don’t impact him.
Must be nice.
While attending the Tony Awards — possibly the gayest event of the year — ahead of reprising his role in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway, Felton was asked questions on the red carpet that led to him admitting he wasn’t “attuned” to the controversy surrounding the Harry Potter author.
When asked directly by Variety on Sunday about whether he was impacted by Rowling’s controversial viewpoint on trans rights, the 37-year-old star answered, “No, I can’t say it does. I’m not really that attuned to it.”
How very Draco of him.
Instead of being critical of Rowling’s vocal anti-trans stance or the money she’s funneling into the UK’s war on trans people (money that has come directly from the success of Harry Potter), Felton expressed gratitude for how being a part of the franchise has changed his life.
“The only thing I always remind myself is that I have 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,” he said. “She’s responsible for that, so I’m incredibly grateful.”
While Felton isn’t alone in his unwillingness to criticize Rowling — Helena Bonham Carter, John Cleese, and Ralph Fiennes have defended her — there are plenty of Harry Potter stars willing to call out the author for being a very vocal TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist).
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and David Tennant have all spoken out publicly against Rowling, and earlier this year eight more stars, including Fantastic Beasts star Eddie Redmayne, Katie Leung, Paapa Essiedu (who will play Snape in the upcoming Harry Potter TV series) signed a open letter expressing their solidarity with the trans community after the UK Supreme Court’s April 17 ruling that defined women based on biological sex, excluding trans women, which Rowling supported.
Felton may say that he isn’t “attuned” to the controversy or Rowling’s transphobic statements, but back in 2022, he told The Independent that he didn’t “know enough about the specifics of what anyone said. My dog takes up far too much time for me to go into such matters.” And went on to say that he and his friends “don’t take any pleasure in putting crosshairs on people that may have said things that we disagree with.”
The internet did not mince words and was quick to call out Felton for not standing up for the trans community, and for continuing to benefit from his continued association with Rowling.
People pointed out his obvious “privilege” while someone else called him “spineless,” while other people dunked on Felton for being the child actor equivalent of a jock who can’t let go of his high school football career.
Keep scrolling to see more reactions.
"this is what privilege looks like, and we shouldn't ignore how much harm looking the other way because things don't affect us directly does. don't be Tom Felton"
"Fuck Tom Felton for his spinelessness, but also fuck that journalist for calling JK Rowling’s transphobia a “Twitterverse controversy.” What a disgusting way to refer to the violent hatred that she’s spewing towards the trans community, who she wants to eliminate from this earth."
"Imagine your career highlight being the role you played when you were 12. Congrats Tom Felton you made it into the list of top 10 bums of all time"
"Are we really surprised at Tom Felton's comments, though? Look at that man. He looks exactly like someone who would live his best white life, and not give a damn about anything happening outside of his experience. Come on now."
"love how every actor distanced themselves from jkr for being a disgusting terf… and then there’s unemployed tom felton"
"Lmao TERFs predictably saying Tom Felton is good for ‘not biting the hand that feeds him’ yeah bcos she’s the only hand that fucking feeds him, he can’t get any other jobs and is clinging to relevancy via Draco Malfoy"
"Has the ever been a figure as loathsome and detestable as Tom Felton? And ageing, former child "star" who, unlike his co-stars has developed zero talents or interests, has tried his hand at everything and now relies on tactical blindness to bigotry to live off of JKRs scraps."
"literally every harry potter actor from the original series has moved on with their lives and starred in new things yet tom felton is reprising his role as draco malfoy and is putting more money into jkr’s pockets"
