Lilly Wachowski, the acclaimed director behind The Matrix and V for Vendetta, equated support for the Harry Potter franchise with backing genocide against transgender people. The explosive remarks came in a Variety interview amid ongoing protests surrounding HBO's upcoming Harry Potter series, in which author J.K. Rowling serves as executive producer.
"Rowling is funding trans genocide, period," declared Wachowski, who identifies as a transgender woman. "If you support Harry Potter, some of your money goes to funding anti-trans legislation around the world. It's like boycotting Tesla if you oppose Elon Musk. Your enjoyment of this media is support for my extermination." The director went further, branding those fighting against the transgender movement "literal Nazis."
Rowling's agent, Neil Blair, issued a sharp rebuttal in Entertainment Weekly. Blair flatly rejected the accusations and clarified that the women's foundation Rowling established aims to help women defend their legal rights in Britain, not to harm transgender rights.
"People are free to disagree with her views," Blair stated. "But such serious libelous claims, using repulsive references to the Nazis and the genocide they committed, are completely fabricated and not based on any evidence."
