Latest news with #TheShowPeople
Daily Mirror
23-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
JK Rowling lashes out at Stephen Fry after he accuses her of being 'radicalised'
JK Rowling, who referred to transgender women as 'men' after the Supreme Court Ruling, lashed out at Stephen Fry after he called her a 'lost cause' JK Rowling lashed out at Sir Stephen Fry after he accused the controversial Harry Potter author of being "radicalised by TERFs". Fry, who is the narrator for the popular books, previously claimed the author was a "friend of mine" and said he wouldn't "abandon" friendships despite even though his trans friends were "deeply upset" by Rowling. However, he recently changed his mind and called her a 'lost cause' on the podcast The Show People this month. He said: "She has been radicalised, I fear, and it may be she has been radicalised by TERFs, but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her. "It is unhelpful and only hardens her and will only continue to harden her I am afraid. I am not saying that she not be called out when she says things that are really cruel, wrong and mocking. She seems to be a lost cause for us." TERF is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist and is often used to people whose views on gender identity are considered hateful or hostile to the transgender community. Fry then accused her of 'mocking' LGBTQ+ people and said he supports the trans community. The star explained: "She started to make these peculiar statements and had very strong difficult views. She seemed to wake up or kick a hornet's nest of transphobia which has been entirely destructive. "I disagree profoundly with her on this subject. I am angry she does not disavow some of the more revolting and truly horrible, destructive violently destructive things that people say. She does not attack those at all. "She says things that are inflammatory and contemptuous, mocking and add to a terribly distressing time for trans people. She has crowed at the success of legislation in Scotland and elsewhere declaring things about gender. "So I am very happy to go on the record to say that I am really angry about that. My view about all things of sharp and difficult nature is that is is much more important to be effective than to be right." After the comments were made, barrister Jo Maugham quoted Fry in a tweet shared on X (Twitter) and said: "Really creditable this, from Stephen Fry. I've spoken to so many of JKR's once friends who now despair at her privately but won't do so publicly, which is very much the British way and why nothing ever changes for the better. So well done Stephen." However, Rowling was quick to hit out at Fry and claimed they were never friends. She re-posted the tweet and added: "It is a great mistake to assume that everyone who claims to have been a friend of mine was ever considered a friend by me." Rowling has shared offensive tweets about the trans community over the years, with many Harry Potter stars speaking out against the author. The author, 59, first made comments about trans people six years ago and has since stood strong in her belief that they pose a threat to women in same sex spaces, such as toilets. Following the Supreme Court's judgement in April, she referred to transgender women as "men".
Spectator
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Stephen Fry could do with a lesson in ‘radicalisation'
Stephen Fry has accused J.K. Rowling of being 'inflammatory and contemptuous', 'mocking' and adding to 'a terribly distressing time for trans people'. Fry, who narrated the Harry Potter audiobooks, has damned their author for saying 'cruel' and 'wrong' things and for failing to 'disavow some of the more revolting and truly horrible, destructive – violently destructive – things that people say'. He suspects that she's been 'radicalised by Terfs', charged her with kicking up 'a hornet's nest of transphobia which has been entirely destructive', and dismissed her as 'a lost cause'. Might I interrupt this lengthy damnatio memoriae to point out that Fry is supposed to be Rowling's friend and to venture that, if she deserves to be rebuked for anything, it's her godawful taste in friends. Fry, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson. The woman is like flypaper for airheads, dilettantes, and abject ingrates. If J.K. Rowling has been radicalised, it is not by Terfs Fry's comments, which came in a recording of the podcast The Show People, are in stark contrast to his answer when asked about these matters in 2021 ('She's a friend and will remain a friend') and again the following year, when he refused to 'abandon' her and said: 'I know that J.K. Rowling doesn't want to see trans people bullied, alienated, shut out of society, made to feel ashamed, guilty, laughed at, all those things.' Fry suggests Rowling has been 'radicalised', a word familiar to followers of the gender controversy for its customary application to women who insist on their rights. Although the terminology echoes that used to describe recruitment of Islamist terrorists, you need not be a feminist semantician to suspect that 'radical' is being used as a synonym for 'hysterical', as though women who believe in chromosomal sex are like the mad heroine of a Charlotte Perkins Gilman story and would benefit from a lie down. Radicalisation is a deceptive and manipulative framing because recognising the existence of physiological differences between men and women isn't radicalism, it's biology. Fry has repeatedly professed his distaste for the gender wars and refused to engage on the substance. For all his donnish affectations, he's a 'be kind' merchant whose contribution to the debate is every bit as vacuous as those Insta mums who pose with a Pride Progress flag in front of their 'Live, Laugh, Love' wall canvas every 1 June. Yet were Fry to take heed of what the gender ideology vanguard say, he might grasp that their use of 'radicalisation' is projection. For if you've convinced yourself that men become women by declaring themselves to be so, that women corseting themselves in chest binders or having healthy breasts amputated is sound therapeutic care, that children should be offered medical and even surgical interventions to mutilate their bodies – and, yes, this is what the vanguard believes – then you should stop and ask who exactly has been radicalised here. When I first wrote critically about gender identity ideology on Coffee House in 2019, it set in motion a parting of ways with several friends who could not tolerate my disagreement with the fundamental convictions they had recently picked up from Twitter. The end of a friendship is often mired in sadness and regret but when a mate breaks away because you reckon Judith Butler is a bit of a nutter, there is – eventually – relief at a bullet dodged. There is also a deeper appreciation of those friendships which span political and philosophical divides. Some of my dearest friends are people who maintain that trans women are women, Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, Scotland should be an independent state, and Jeremy Corbyn would have made a good prime minister. Mateship across ideological lines is normal and healthy, I don't care what the bug-eyed scolds on BlueSky say. You stick by your mate, defend him even as you disagree with him, and you most certainly don't turn on him when a gang of under-medicated hall monitors corner you in the cafeteria. I'd like to think that Rowling doesn't pay much mind to turncoats who huff the fumes of her success then ditch her for status points. That she's too busy spending her days in a mountaintop hotel typing 'All work and no play makes Jo a dull girl' and her nights dive-bombing into a vault of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck. But no doubt it stings her just as it would the rest of us. That's unfortunate but it is better than the alternative. A friendship you can only hold on to by believing, or pretending to believe, that womanhood is nothing more than a feeling, that sex-based rights are bigoted, that transing the gay away is progressive, is a friendship from which you should flee without delay. If J.K. Rowling has been radicalised, it is not by Terfs but by the spinelessness and intellectual vacuity of characters like Stephen Fry. Men who profess left-liberal affinities in every other regard but are content to align themselves with harmful, reactionary doctrines because to do otherwise would be low-brow. Why, he'd be no better than the ghastly Americans who voted for Trump and those hideous English provincials who read the Daily Express. People like this have nothing to add to the conversation beyond repeating vapid platitudes half-remembered from their last dinner party. If this is the quality of contribution Fry has to offer the gender debate, it might be wise all round if he resumed his vow of silence.
Perth Now
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Stephen Fry brands JK Rowling a 'lost cause' over transgender rows
Sir Stephen Fry has branded JK Rowling a "lost cause" and fears she's been "radicalised by TERFs". The 67-year-old comedian and author previously vowed not to "abandon" his friendship with the Harry Potter author - despite her controversial comments about the transgender community However, he is not afraid to call out her "inflammatory and contemptuous" behavior and admitted he believes she's beyond help. Appearing on The Show People podcast, he said: 'She has been radicalised I fear and it maybe she has been radicalised by TERFs, but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her." Fry added that Rowling had caused 'a hornet's nest of transphobia which has been entirely destructive." He continued: 'She says things that are inflammatory and contemptuous, mocking and add to a terribly distressing time for trans people.' Fry narrated the Harry Potter audiobooks and also voiced Rowling's The Ickabog story in 2020. A year later, he insisted: 'She's a friend and will remain a friend.' Fry later called for calm in the debate over transgender issues, even though the author's remarks upset some of his transgender friends. Asked if he wanted to take part in the debate, Stephen explained on the Beeb Watch podcast: "I wouldn't. I definitely wouldn't because I am aware that you are talking about an issue where two sides are very sore and anxious about their enemies." The actor admitted that he finds himself in an awkward situation, having friends on both sides of the debate. He continued: "She is a friend of mine and I have trans friends and intersex friends who are deeply upset by her. "That is a circle I have to square personally." Stephen ultimately hopes to see an end to the arguing. The V for Vendetta star - who married his husband Elliott Spencer in 2015 - explained: "I know that JK Rowling doesn't want to see trans people bullied, alienated, shut out of society, made to feel ashamed, guilty, laughed at, all those things. "But I also know that there are people who believe that safe feminine spaces and the idea of difference between sex and gender is very important, and that they repudiate with all their strength the Judith Butler – the idea of created gender and so on. "It is not an argument I want to get involved in because it is upsetting to both sides and I would wish them both to retreat and to consider that is possible for trans people to live full, accepted lives according to their terms in society, and for women to have all the rights and dignities they demand. "But it isn't possible if each side looks on the other as an enemy and the trans people just shout 'terf' and the feminists seem to, as it were, undermine the dignity and rights of the trans community, if I can use the word community - it is a bit of a greasy word, but there you go."
The National
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Stephen Fry says JK Rowling has been 'radicalised by Terfs'
The TV presenter and comic described the bestselling writer, whose net worth reportedly stands at £945 million, as a 'lost cause' because of her views. Fry has historically been wary of wading into the transgender debate but has now come out to say he disagrees 'profoundly' with Rowling's views. He narrated the audiobooks for the whole Harry Potter series and said he was 'sorry' about his rift with Rowling over the issue. Fry told The Show People podcast last week that he previously enjoyed Rowling's company but said her gender critical views had 'completely altered the way she talks and engages with the world now'. He said: 'She has been radicalised I fear and it may be she has been radicalised by TERFs, but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her. 'It is unhelpful and only hardens her and will only continue to harden her I am afraid. I am not saying that she not be called out when she says things that are really cruel, wrong and mocking. She seems to be a lost cause for us.' Terf stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist and is used as an insult by pro-trans activists. Fry, who formerly hosted the quiz show QI, added: 'She started to make these peculiar statements and had very strong difficult views. She seemed to wake up or kick a hornet's nest of transphobia which has been entirely destructive. 'I disagree profoundly with her on this subject. I am angry she does not disavow some of the more revolting and truly horrible, destructive violently destructive things that people say. She does not attack those at all. 'She says things that are inflammatory and contemptuous, mocking and add to a terribly distressing time for trans people.' READ MORE: Group of 'neo-Nazis' thrown out from council meeting about 'far-right racist' banners On Rowling's interventions in Scottish politics, which has been at the centre of UK-wide debates about trans rights, Fry said: 'She has crowed at the success of legislation in Scotland and elsewhere declaring things about gender. 'So I am very happy to go on the record to say that I am really angry about that.' Fry expressed regret about how Rowling (below) had changed, as he saw it. 'I am sorry because I always liked her company,' he said. 'I found her charming, funny and interesting and then this thing happened and it completely altered the way she talks and engages with the world now.' Fry, who is himself gay, previously faced criticism from parts of the LGBTQ+ community for not being more strident in his comments about the trans rights debate. In 2022, he called for both sides to stop fighting one another, saying: 'There is no winner.' He previously described Rowling as a 'friend', adding: 'I have trans friends and intersex friends who are deeply upset by her. That is a circle I have to square personally.' Fry added that he did not intend to 'abandon' friendships.
Euronews
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Stephen Fry on J.K. Rowling: ‘She seems to be a lost cause'
Renowned British actor, author and broadcaster Stephen Fry has labelled Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling a 'lost cause' and stated that she has been 'radicalised by TERFs' - the acronym that stands for 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist'. The term is used by transgender activists against gender critics like Rowling, who has dedicated much of her online presence to defending her views while expressing transphobic views. During the recording of the podcast The Show People, Fry, who previously narrated all seven Harry Potter audiobooks, said: "She has been radicalised I fear and it maybe she has been radicalised by TERFs, but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her.' As reported by The Daily Mail, Fry continued: 'It is unhelpful and only hardens her and will only continue to harden her I am afraid. I am not saying that she not be called out when she says things that are really cruel, wrong and mocking. She seems to be a lost cause for us.' 'I am sorry because I always liked her company,' he added. 'I found her charming, funny and interesting and then this thing happened, and it completely altered the way she talks and engages with the world now.' He continued by saying that Rowling's 'contemptuous' comments 'add to a terribly distressing time for trans people.' Stephen Fry spoke in the aftermath of the UK Supreme Court ruling in April that determined that 'woman' meant a biological female and not gender. Lord Hodge said the five Supreme Court justices had unanimously decided that 'the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act refer to a biological woman and biological sex.' Many expressed fears that the ruling could put trans and non-binary people in danger. Stonewall's chief executive Simon Blake said that the ruling 'will be incredibly worrying for the trans community and all of us who support them.' Meanwhile, Rowling celebrated the ruling by posting a picture of herself smoking a cigar on her yacht. Fry's recent comments have been met with a torrent of bile online... ... as well as some support, highlighting quite how divisive the issue remains. Fry is not the only former Harry Potter star to speak out and criticise Rowling's continued hateful rhetoric. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have all spoken out against her controversial views. Last year, Radcliffe told The Atlantic that Rowling's views 'make me really sad', adding: 'Because I do look at the person that I met, the times that we met, and the books that she wrote, and the world that she created, and all of that is to me so deeply empathic.' Watson expressed her support, stating: "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." Meanwhile Rupert Grint said: "I firmly stand with the trans community... Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgment." Rowling previously said that she wouldn't forgive the Harry Potter stars who have criticised her views. 'Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women's hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces,' she wrote on X. Earlier this year, Rowling reignited tensions with the actors by taking an indirect jab at Radcliffe, Watson and Grint. In March, she was asked: 'What actor/actress instantly ruins a movie for you?' Rowling replied: 'Three guesses. Sorry, but that was irresistible.' By contrast, Tom Felton, who played Draco Malfoy in the franchise, said he remains 'grateful' to Rowling. 'I'm not really that attuned,' said Felton. 'The only thing I always remind myself is that I've 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, and she's responsible for that. So I'm incredibly grateful.' His comments sparked a wave of differing reactions - some applauded him for what they called a 'classy response,' while others condemned his words as 'atrocious,' 'spineless,' and 'disappointing.' Should an artist's faith determine what happens to their work when they die? The death of one of France's most successful rappers has raised this question. French rapper Werenoi, whose real name was Jérémy Bana Owona, died on 17 May 2025, aged 31. He was France's top album seller in 2023 and 2024, and his death shocked both the music industry and the public. 'Rest in peace my man. A news that saddens me and courage to the loved ones especially', popstar Aya Nakamura wrote on social media. Following the release of his first song 'Guadalajara' in 2021, Werenoi quickly rose to great success. His 2024 album 'Carré' was named best rap album at the Flammes Awards, and he was the opening act for Burna Boy at the Stade de France in April. With more than 7 million monthly listeners on Spotify, he was an example of a vibrant francophone music scene that keeps growing worldwide, according to the platform's new report on francophone content. Culture minister Rachida Dati called the rapper 'the icon of a generation.' 'In an age of overexposure and ever-present social media, he had opted for privacy. Cultivating discretion, he revealed himself only through his lyrics', Dati said in a statement on 20 May. One of the only known facts about Werenoi's private life was his faith. The rapper was Muslim. In the hours following his death, debates erupted on social media over what should be done with his music according to Islam. 'Werenoi was a Muslim, and we invite you to listen to his music as little as possible, out of respect for his faith," online rap publication Raplume said in a social media post that has since been deleted. 'Avoid streaming Werenoi's tracks, he was a Muslim, it's for his faith', one user said on X. A tribute to the artist by French rap radio station Skyrock elicited similar criticism. Other fans felt that listening to Werenoi's music was a way of paying their respects and ensuring that his legacy lives on. 'When he was alive, Werenoi was making music, going on Skyrock and selling albums, so it's only natural that when he dies, the rap world should pay tribute to him by playing his music', one user wrote on X. The rapper's team and relatives have not publicly weighed in on the debate, leaving fans to decipher mixed messages. Werenoi's music videos were removed from YouTube, but the audio versions still remain available on the platform. A source close to the rapper told French newspaper Le Parisien that the videos had only been temporarily hidden to allow the family to grieve. Werenoi's producer later denied this claim. Rumours even said the artist's entire discography would soon disappear from all streaming platforms, but this has yet to happen. The teachings of Islam are up to interpretation. Many on social media argue that music is haram, meaning it is forbidden by Islamic law. Listening to Werenoi's music after his death would bring him sins in his grave. But the word 'music' does not actually appear in the Quran and many artists around the world are practising Muslims. 'The prohibition of music by some branches of Islam is not based on any consensus but rather on controversial interpretations of certain suras and hadiths [statements attributed to the prophet Muhammad]', musicologist Luis Velasco-Pufleau wrote in a 2017 blogpost. Fundamentalist Islamic movements like Salafism and Wahhabism strictly prohibit music while other traditions, like Sufism, are more lenient. There have been similar controversies in the past. The death in 2019 of British rapper Cadet, who converted to Islam at 15, also ignited online discussions on the future of his music - much to the dismay of some users. 'When anyone else passes away Muslims will send their condolences as normal... But when it's a Muslim [rapper] we go into theological debates about sharing his music etc', London-based imam Shabbir Hassan posted on X (then Twitter) at the time. 'Just take a lesson from his death and make du'a [a Muslim prayer] for him. That will benefit us/him the most.' For some, this question tends to be overly politicised. 'It's fascinating how cultural topics can raise this kind of political and religious debates,' streamer iliesomg said on decolonial YouTube channel Paroles d'honneur. He said that listening to Werenoi's music should be a personal decision for Muslim believers, guided by their own approach to spirituality. Numbers show that Werenoi's audience, Muslim or not, does not seem ready to let go of his art. Sales for his last album 'Diamant noir', released in April, rose by 72% in the week after his death, making it the most listened album in France.
