Emma Watson, JK Rowling rift deepens? ‘Harry Potter’ creator lambasts ‘ignorant’ actor — ‘greatest irony is...’

JK Rowling, the author of the famous 'Harry Potter' series, fired back at Emma Watson, saying that the 'Beauty and the Beast' actor is "ignorant of how ignorant she is."

Rowling and Watson have been at loggerheads over the former's stance on transgender issue.

In a recent post on X, Rowling hit back at Watson, who, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, had declared "she loves and treasures" the British author. This comes years after Watson criticised Rowling over a controversial anti-trans essay she had penned back in 2020.

Emma Watson, JK Rowling years-long rift

The dispute between the two began in 2020, when Rowling continued to criticise certain aspects of the trans rights movement.

At the time, Watson had shared on social media, "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. I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are."

In response, the iconic author said said she would never forgive Watson, as well as co-star Daniel Radcliffe, for their criticism, which the author said led to “death, rape and torture threats” at the time.

Watson played Hermione Granger throughout the blockbuster film franchise from 2001 to 2011.

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Years after ridiculing Rowling’s anti-transgender remarks, Watson suggested last week she wanted to make amends. She declared on Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast that she still treasured the renowned British author.

She told Shetty that she now tries to separate her relationship with the author from their differing perspectives. "I really don't believe that by having had that experience and holding the love and support and views that I have means that I can't and don't treasure Jo and the person that I had personal experiences with," Watson said.

"I will never believe that one negates the other, and that my experience of that person, I don't get to keep and cherish, to come back to our earlier thing. I don't think these things are either or. It's my deepest wish that people who don't agree with my opinion will love me, and I hope I can keep loving people with whom I don't necessarily share the same opinion," she was quoted by The Hollywood Reporter as saying.

JK Rowling hits back at Watson

In a lengthy post on X, JK Rowling fired back at Emma Watson, saying the uber-privileged “Harry Potter” actress is “ignorant of how ignorant she is."

“Like other people who’ve never experienced adult life uncushioned by wealth and fame, Emma has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is,” Rowling said in a scathing post on X.

“I wasn’t a multimillionaire at fourteen. I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous. I therefore understand from my own life experience what the trashing of women’s rights in which Emma has so enthusiastically participated means to women and girls without her privileges,” Rowling's post read.

Why the 'change of tack'

She went on to hit out at Watson over her "a change of tack". She said, "The greatest irony here is that, had Emma not decided in her most recent interview to declare that she loves and treasures me - a change of tack I suspect she's adopted because she's noticed full-throated condemnation of me is no longer quite as fashionable as it was - I might never have been this honest."

"Adults can't expect to cosy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend's assassination, then assert their right to the former friend's love, as though the friend was in fact their mother," she wrote.

"Emma is rightly free to disagree with me and indeed to discuss her feelings about me in public - but I have the same right, and I've finally decided to exercise it," Rowling added.

Emma 'publicly poured more petrol on flames'

Rowling said in the X post that Emma had "just publicly poured more petrol on the flames." She shared a video clip on X which "highlights Emma's 'all witches' speech.

She said that "in truth, that was a turning point for me, but it had a postscript that hurt far more than the speech itself."

"Emma asked someone to pass on a handwritten note from her to me, which contained the single sentence 'I'm so sorry for what you're going through' (she has my phone number). This was back when the death, rape and torture threats against me were at their peak, at a time when my personal security measures had had to be tightened considerably and I was constantly worried for my family's safety," the author said.

She said Emma Watson and her co-stars have every right to embrace gender identity ideology. "Such beliefs are legally protected, and I wouldn't want to see any of them threatened with loss of work, or violence, or death, because of them," he added.