Eddie Redmayne addresses J.K. Rowling's transphobic tweets

J.K. Rowling has recently faced criticism for tweets shared to her platform this weekend regarding gender identity and after Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, addressed her comments earlier in the week, Eddie Redmayne has spoken out speak out against her transphobic comments.

In a statement published to Variety, the actor, who stars as Newt Scamander in the film version of Rowling's Fantastic Beasts series, made his stance clear. “Respect for transgender people remains a cultural imperative, and over the years I have been trying to constantly educate myself. This is an ongoing process.”

“As someone who has worked with both J.K. Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand. I disagree with Jo’s comments.” Redmayne continued, “Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid. I would never want to speak on behalf of the community but I do know that my dear transgender friends and colleagues are tired of this constant questioning of their identities, which all too often results in violence and abuse. They simply want to live their lives peacefully, and it’s time to let them do so.”

Say it again for the people in the back, Eddie.

Excellent statement from Eddie Redmayne here: https://t.co/LIIO5MTdmW pic.twitter.com/1ndT0b9rbg

— ⭐ amy o'connor ⭐ (@amyohconnor) June 10, 2020

Redmayne, who starred in the 2015 film The Danish Girl as transgender woman Lili Elbe, faced backlash himself for taking on the role that some say should have gone to a trans performer, seeing as they are already underrepresented in front of and behind the camera in Hollywood. Speaking to IndieWire in 2015, Redmayne said, "I think it’s an incredibly important discussion. And I think it’s also representative of a lot of discrimination against trans people in the work place generally ...  I hope there’s a day when there are more trans actors and trans actresses playing trans parts, but also cisgender parts."[video_embed id='1973979']RELATED: Daniel Radcliffe voices support for transgender community[/video_embed]

Following J.K. Rowling's remarks on June 6 about gender identity, the author faced inspired immediate backlash from both fans and fellow celebrities, who noted that her dismissal of trans identities was extremely harmful.

On June 8, Daniel Radcliffe released a statement, voicing his support for the transgender community, in an essay for The Trevor Project. “Transgender women are women," he shared. “Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations, who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”

Evanna Lynch, who played Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter series, also chimed in on the matter, with a length statement shared to Twitter.

Here are my thoughts. Sending love to all. ❤️???? pic.twitter.com/P30YHfnzBN

— Evanna Lynch (@Evy_Lynch) June 9, 2020

This isn’t the first time the Harry Potter author has been accused of transphobia. Yet it seems Rowling isn’t finished with this story. On June 10, she published a lengthy blog post defending her original tweets.

“This isn’t an easy piece to write, for reasons that will shortly become clear, but I know it’s time to explain myself on an issue surrounded by toxicity," she wrote. "I write this without any desire to add to that toxicity.” Rowling explains she's a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor, and that her tweets on June 6 were brought on after reading about a bill in Scotland proposing "gender confirmation certificates." Rowling says she believes the bill to be "controversial," adding, "which will in effect mean that all a man needs to ‘become a woman’ is to say he’s one. To use a very contemporary word, I was ‘triggered’.” She then shared the blog post to Twitter, simply stating “TERF wars” (a term which stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist).

[video_embed id='1973112']RELATED: J.K. Rowling under fire for anti-trans tweets[/video_embed]