J.K. Rowling has made yet another enemy. Pedro Pascal has blasted Rowling for her transphobia, calling Rowling a “heinous loser” in an Instagram comment after the Harry Potter scribe shared her support for an anti-transgender ruling in the UK.
The Last of Us star laid into Rowling in a comment on a video posted by writer and activist Tariq Ra’ouf. The clip explains Rowling’s role in an April 16 UK Supreme Court ruling, which found that transgender women should not be recognized as women under Britain’s Equality Act. Rowling helped financially back a group called For Women Scotland that brought the legal challenge to court. The ruling allows for single-sex services in the UK to exclude transgender women.
Rowling celebrated the decision on social media, posting a photo of herself on X smoking a cigar and holding a drink. “I love it when a plan comes together,” she wrote in the caption of the photo, followed by the hashtags #SupremeCourt and #WomensRights.
In his Instagram video, Ra’ouf called for a boycott of Rowling and “Harry Potter-related” projects and experiences, and also called out Rowling for celebrating the Supreme Court decision. “Don’t watch the show. Don’t go to Universal. Don’t buy a single Harry Potter thing ever. It’s time to tell these corporations that transphobia loses money,” wrote Ra’ouf as the caption of his video. Pascal then left a comment under Ra’ouf’s video that made his feelings about Rowling exceedingly clear. “Awful disgusting SHIT is exactly right,” he wrote. “Heinous LOSER behavior.” As of publication, his comment has received 3,000 likes. Vanity Fair has reached out to both Pascal and Rowling for comment.
Pascal has been vocally supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. His younger sister, actress and trans activist Lux Pascal, came out as transgender in 2021. Lux grew up in Chile and graduated from the Juilliard School in 2023, and has appeared opposite Pascal in Narcos. In his 2023 Esquire cover story, Pascal said that it wasn’t his place to “speak on her behalf,” but said that Lux “is and has always been one of the most powerful people and personalities I’ve ever known.” He noted that he sees his mother in Lux, and that “she ruled the household right away” despite being 17 years younger than Pascal. “My protective side is lethal, but I need her more than she needs me,” he added.
While attending the UK premiere of Thunderbolts on April 22, Pascal continued to show support for the trans community by wearing a white T-shirt that said “Protect The Dolls.” Designed by Conner Ives, the shirt is meant to call attention to the global anti-trans movement that Rowling has made her cause célèbre, with “dolls” being an affectionate term for trans women coined by the queer community. Pascal has displayed his allyship for the LGBTQIA community in other ways, sharing photos on Instagram of a rainbow flag in the aftermath of attacks on trans rights in March 2023.
HBO, which produced Pascal’s series The Last of Us, is currently developing a Harry Potter television series with Rowling’s creative involvement. So far, John Lithgow, Janet McTeer, and Paapa Essiedu have signed on to appear in the series, which is set to begin filming this summer. Suffice it to say, Pascal will probably not appear in the series, although he’d make a great Sirius Black—and his schedule recently opened up.
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