J.K. Rowling Accuses John Oliver Of Using ‘Women As A Punchline’ After He Supports Trans Athletes’ Rights

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has accused The Daily Show host John Oliver of trivializing women’s rights with his recent comments during a segment of his show in which he said women do not face safety threats from competing trans athletes.

“Vanishingly few trans girls are competing in high schools everywhere,” Oliver said during his segment, “even if there were more, trans kids, like all kids, vary in athletic ability, and there is no evidence they pose any threat to safety or fairness. It is very wild for you to focus on a subject.”

Rowling, an avowed anti-trans feminist, described Oliver as “an undoubtedly intelligent person who spouts absolute (redacted) to support something he wants to be true but isn’t.”

In one of her recent X posts, Rowling wrote, “If you want to tell the world you’re happy to watch women suffer injury, humiliation, and loss of sporting opportunities to bolster an elitist post-modern ideology embraced by a minute fraction of the world’s population, fair enough, you’re allowed your opinion. But if you’ve just told girls that they don’t deserve a fair sport, maybe rethink using all too real and common sexual predation against young women as a punchline for your ‘edgy’ closing joke.”

Rowling cited the case of Payton McNabb, a volleyball player who was left partially paralyzed at 17 by a transgender opponent.

When McNabb was struck in the face by the oncoming ball, the trans player reportedly laughed, as did the other players of the opposing team. McNabb fell to the ground unconscious. She was left with brain damage and paralysis on her right side, which ended her dreams of achieving a college volleyball scholarship and made it difficult for her to walk without falling.

“There is a biological difference between the two,” McNabb said in a letter to Daily Mail, “there is a difference in sports because of this in the first place.”

Rowling has been seen as a critical figure in the anti-trans community since 2019; more recently, she has been cited as being responsible for conducting a blistering attack on gender-identity critics.

Rowling has insisted she was not “far right” but was standing up for women and would not back down on her staunch defending “women-only spaces.”

The author has frequently attacked the stars of the Harry Potter films for their defense of trans rights.

Subscribe to uInterview’s free weekly email for the latest entertainment news & exclusive celebrity videos!

Let us know what you think of the story in the comments below – join the conversation!