J.K. Rowling has branded Emma Watson "ignorant" in response to the star's latest comments about Rowling's views on transgender rights. The Harry Potter actress and her co-stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint publicly pledged their support for the transgender community in 2020 after the Harry Potter author expressed anti-trans views. Watson reflected on the situation on Jay Shetty's On Purpose podcast last week and admitted that she still loves and treasures the writer even though she disagrees with her opinions. Rowling responded in a lengthy statement on X on Monday, claiming that Watson is participating in the "trashing of women's rights" because she "has so little experience of real life" due to her fame and fortune that she is "ignorant of how ignorant she is". The author went on to accuse the actress of fanning the flames of hatred towards her when she presented a prize at the 2022 BAFTA Awards and declared she was here "for all of the witches". According to Rowling, Watson reached out to her afterwards. She alleged, "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)... Emma had just publicly poured more petrol on the flames, yet thought a one line expression of concern from her would reassure me of her fundamental sympathy and kindness." The 60-year-old acknowledged that she's "not owed eternal agreement" from Harry Potter stars simply because she created the books. However, she then questioned why Watson and Daniel Radcliffe "continue to assume the role of de facto spokespeople for the world I created" and feel obligated to criticise her views publicly. "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," she concluded. "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."