Dr Who star David Tennant has a 10-year-old child who came out as transgender, so it’s probably no surprise that he’s been so vocal in his support for trans rights recently. Even if that means attracting the ire of JK Rowling who has now branded Tennant a member of the ‘gender Taliban.’
The other week, Tennant was given an award at the British LGBT Awards for his ‘allyship to the community’, and during his acceptance speech, said he was “a little depressed” about being awarded for believing that everyone has the right to “be who they want to be and live their life how they want to live it as long as they’re not hurting anyone else”.
Stop Telling Women to “Shut Up” Challenge
Biggest Loser: @David_Tennant
From a former @bbcdoctorwho fan 💋 @KemiBadenoch pic.twitter.com/LadaXhBFmJ
— WomenAreReal (@WomenAreReals) June 26, 2024
He then called out women’s rights activist and UK Minister for Women and Equalities Kemi Badenoch, who’s previously said she would shut out trans women from certain spaces. Tennant said:
“Because it’s common sense, isn’t it? However, until we wake up and Kemi Badenoch doesn’t exist anymore – I don’t wish ill of her, I just wish her to shut up – whilst we do live in this world, I am honoured to receive this.”
Kemi Badenoch later responded to Tennant on social media, calling the Scottish actor a “rich, lefty, white male celebrity so blinded by ideology he can’t see the optics of attacking the only Black woman in government by calling publicly for my existence to end.”
In any case, it’s not a proper trans debate until JK Rowling gets involved, and sure enough, she had this to say while Tweeting a BBC article on it:
But the utterances of the Gender Taliban receive special dispensation, for they are a holy caste. https://t.co/LvaD7M8NO0
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 26, 2024
In a following post, Rowling shared a screenshot of past comments made by Tennant about transphobic people, in which he said: “It’s a tiny bunch of little whinging f***ers who’re on the wrong side of history and they’ll all go away soon.”
Of course, Tennant joins a host of Harry Potter alumni by going counter to JK Rowling’s views on the problematic aspects of transgenderism.
Back in April, Rowling told Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson to “save their apologies” for “traumatised detransitioners” after the stars made statements in support of trans rights.
Meanwhile, a production that aims to criticise JK Rowling’s views on gender is struggling to cast women – with 90 actresses so far rejecting roles. Apparently they’ve had no issues casting men, though. Hmm…
