Brian Cox has defended J.K. Rowling amid her comments about the transgender community.
Rowling received attention for her comments in which she mocked an article with the phrase “people who menstruate” in its headline and published a 3,000-word essay titled JK Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking Out on Sex and Gender Issues, resulting in a significant backlash from the trans community and beyond.
When asked about the controversy on BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme (per Metro), Cox said: “I don’t like the way she has been treated, actually.
“Actually, I think she’s entitled to her opinion, she’s entitled to say what she feels, as a woman, she’s very much entitled to say what she feels about her own body.”
He added: “There’s nobody better to say as a woman. So I do feel that people have been a bit high and mighty about their attitude towards J.K. Rowling, quite frankly.”
Last summer Rowling announced that she had written a book about a character being persecuted for transphobic views.
The new book, published under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith, is titled The Ink Black Heart. Coming as part of her crime thriller series Cormoran Strike, it follows a character who has a public downfall following statements that were received as transphobic.
According to Rolling Stone, the synopsis of the book is as follows: “Rowling introduces readers to Edie Ledwell, a creator of a popular YouTube cartoon who sees internet trolls and her own fandom turn on her after the cartoon was criticised as being racist and ableist, as well as transphobic for a bit about a hermaphrodite worm.
“The creator is doxxed with photos of her home plastered on the internet, subjected to death and rape threats for having an opinion, and was ultimately found stabbed to death in a cemetery. The book takes a clear aim at ‘social justice warriors’ and suggests that Ledwell was a victim of a masterfully plotted, politically fuelled hate campaign against her.”