The Irish actress who played the quirky Luna Lovegood in J.K. Rowling's magical world has said she is "saddened" by the author's use of her Twitter platform.
Evanna Lynch has broken her silence following author J.K. Rowling's insensitive comments which appeared to make fun of "people who menstruate." The 'Harry Potter' creator faced huge backlash online for her tweet - and has faced such pushback online numerous times in the past.
Earlier this week, Daniel Radcliffe was the first of the 'Harry Potter' stars to speak out over the controversy, saying he felt "compelled to say something at this moment" as "transgender women are women".
28-year-old Lynch has now used her social media platform to voice her opinion on the matter. She uploaded a lengthy statement to her Twitter, saying: "I wanted to stay out of commenting on JKR’s tweets because it feels impossible to address this subject on Twitter but I am so saddened to see trans people feeling abandoned by the HP community so here are my thoughts:
"I imagine that being trans and learning to accept and love yourself is challenging enough and we as a society should not be adding to that pain. Feeling like you don’t fit in or aren’t accepted for who you are are the worst, most lonely feelings a human can experience and I won’t be helping to marginalise trans women and men further."
The actress praised the bravery of the people within the trans community, continuing her statement: "I applaud the immense bravery they show in embracing themselves and think we all should listen to their stories, especially as it is Pride Month."
However, Lynch then takes aim at Rowling by saying that Twitter is not the "right place" for this conversation to be happening: "Personally, I don’t think Twitter is the right place to have this very complex conversation and we should be reading articles and memoirs, listening to podcasts and having long-form conversations. I think it’s irresponsible to discuss such a delicate topic over Twitter through fragmented thoughts and I wish Jo wouldn’t."
Lynch then highlighted Rowling's charitable work which she has done in the past, while also disagreeing with her comments: "That said, as a friend and admirer of Jo I can’t forget what a generous and loving person she is. I disagree with her opinion that cis-women are the most vulnerable minority in this situation and I think she’s on the wrong side of this debate. But that doesn’t mean she has completely lost her humanity."
She added that those within the community should look to the 'Harry Potter' fandom for help, as there are many of us out there who disagree with the author: "I’m so sorry to any trans people who feel that’s been taken away or that this community is no longer that safe place. But the 'Harry Potter' world/fandom/community is literally made up of millions of people now and I for one will work to make it feel inclusive because trans women are women."
Evanna Lynch concluded her statement by saying: "I also think we should all be in therapy, not on Twitter tearing lumps out of one another. I hope everyone is taking space away from social media and prioritising their mental health [...] For now, I won’t be continuing this conversation any further on Twitter and will be offline learning to listen better."
You can read how Evanna Lynch reacted to the comments made by J.K. Rowling in full below.
Here are my thoughts. Sending love to all. ❤️???????? pic.twitter.com/P30YHfnzBN
— Evanna Lynch (@Evy_Lynch) June 9, 2020