In the wake of a public discussion about transgender athletes in women’s sports, J.K. Rowling and John Oliver are now creating headlines. Their drastic opinions on the matter have caused controversy, leading to a heated debate.
Rowling made it clear that she strongly disagreed with Oliver’s position on trans inclusivity, while Oliver has constantly advocated for trans rights. Here’s what the whole feud is about.
John Oliver’s Views On Transgender Women In Sports
During his late-night show, John Oliver talked about how trans athletes should be allowed to participate in sports competitions and that it poses no threat to safety or fairness. “There are vanishingly few trans girls competing in high schools anywhere. Even if there were more, trans kids—like all kids—varied in athletic ability, and there is no evidence they pose any threat to safety or fairness,” he said.
Adding on, he said, “Finally, if you genuinely want to address the biggest concern for most girls who play high school sports, you’d be less worried about this and more about the creepy assistant volleyball coach who keeps liking their posts on fucking Instagram.”
His statement brought praise from many and a negative uproar from another bunch—one of whom happened to be J. K. Rowling. The author has been in the headlines before for her anti-trans comments, and she has done it yet again with her latest comments.
J.K. Rowling Responds To John Oliver’s Statement On Trans Athletes
J.K. Rowling went on a long rant on X, writing about John Oliver’s comment, disagreeing with it, and talking about the apparent dangers of transgender women in sports.
“Nothing about this feels good,” she began. “According to the UN, female athletes have lost nearly 900 medals to trans-identified men competing against them in women’s sporting categories. Girls have been ousted from teams to make way for boys. Women have suffered serious injury playing against trans-identified men (see Payton McNabb, mentioned below),” the author added.
She continued, “Again and again I’ve come up against men who argue exactly what Oliver does here, using the very same talking points. With a straight face, the ‘believe the science’ guys will say ‘actually, we don’t yet have enough data to say whether men and boys are stronger and faster than women and girls’. The ‘be kind’ crew can’t see what the issue is. ‘Why are you bothered, it only affects a tiny minority of females?’“
Ending her statement, she wrote, “If you want to tell the world you’re happy to watch females suffer injury, humiliation and the 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 they don’t deserve fair sport, maybe rethink using all too real and common sexual predation against young women as a punchline for your ‘edgy’ closing joke.“
The comment section of the post is filled with people in support of Rowling’s statement, with many calling Oliver out for his comment. The host has not yet responded to Rowling’s elaborate response.
