Pedro Pascal has no regrets when it comes to his response to JK Rowling and her gleeful post celebrating the UK Supreme Court’s landmark anti-trans ruling.
In a recent Vanity Fair profile, the Materialists actor, advocate and internet daddy, spoke about the backlash he received from Rowling’s avid supporters, after he commented on an Instagram video calling for a “Harry Potter-related” boycott earlier this year. Echoing the sentiment shared in the video created by Instagram user Tariq Ra’Ouf, Pascal wrote: “Awful disgusting SHIT is exactly right. Heinous LOSER behavior.” The comment, at the time of writing, has received 12,222 likes.
While the Harry Potter author’s transphobic views have been well documented over the years, this particular instance garnered a new wave of criticism. Posting to X (formally Twitter) Rowling shared a picture of herself lounging by the sea, cigar in one hand, a drink in the other, with the caption “I love it when a plan comes together. #SupremeCourt #WomensRights.”
Pascal has always been a vocal supporter of the LGBTQI+ community, and as a fiercely loyal brother to his younger sister, actress and trans activist, Lux, his response to Rowling’s post was anything but out of line.
As the comment gained traction online, Pascal told Vanity Fair, it made him feel like “that kid that got sent to the principal’s office a lot for behavioural issues in public schools in Texas feeling scared and thinking, What’d I do?”
But it wasn’t the the subsequent backlash that worried him, instead, it was concern that he’d somehow aggravated the situation. “The one thing that I would say I agonised over a little bit was just, ‘Am I helping? Am I fucking helping?’ It’s a situation that deserves the utmost elegance so that something can actually happen, and people will actually be protected,” he shared.
“Listen, I want to protect the people I love. But it goes beyond that. Bullies make me fucking sick.”
At the time, Rowling defenders attempted to discredit the Last Of Us actor by framing a viral clip of Pascal reaching for the hand of his Fantastic Four co-star, Vanessa Kirby, as evidence of his ill-intent towards women.
Thankfully, the faux outrage was quickly quashed, with Kirby herself responding in the same piece. “What happened is we were both incredibly nervous going out in front of thousands of people who love this comic,” explained Kirby.
“He wanted me to know that we were in this together, and I found it a lovely gesture and was very glad to squeeze his hand back.”
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