Brian Cox, here in 2022, believes JK Rowling’s opinion ‘as a woman’ counts (Picture: Rex Features)
Brian Cox has once again defended JK Rowling following her controversial statements about the transgender community, and believes she’s ‘entitled to her opinion’.
The Succession actor spoke after his native Scotland passed the Gender Recognition Reform bill, which would allow trans people to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC) without the need for a medical diagnosis.
The bill will also allow 16 and 17 year olds to apply for a GRC for the first time, and would reduce the amount of time a person has to live in their acquired gender before they can be granted the document.
Harry Potter author Rowling, 57, has come under fire in recent years for her various contentious comments about the trans community, including criticising an article in 2020 that referred to ‘people who menstruate’, rather than women.
Last year, the writer attracted further backlash when she backed a protest against the Gender Recognition Reform bill, describing it as ‘the biggest assault on the rights of Scottish women and girls’.
Addressing the controversy surrounding Rowling, Scottish actor Cox, 76, said on BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: ‘I don’t like the way she has been treated, actually.
Rowling has faced immense criticism over her comments about the trans community (Picture: SWNS)
‘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.
‘There’s nobody better to say as a woman.’
Cox added: ‘So I do feel that people have been a bit high and mighty about their attitude towards JK Rowling, quite frankly.’
It’s not the first time the acclaimed actor has defended Rowling, despite them having opposing views on the transgender community.
In May 2022, Cox said of the immense criticising the author has faced: ‘I thought there was something deeply unjust about it. And I just felt that.
‘It is happening time and time again. It is not only the people who are cancelled. It is also people like their families, like their children, like their parents. It has such ramifications. It creates like an earthquake situation.’
He added: ‘It is total fascism. You are absolutely right. It is total fascism… You see, it’s hypocrisy again.
‘The hypocritical notion of “I am being liberal” but actually you are being fascist and people should just stop it and behave themselves.’
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The actor spoke after Scotland passed its Gender Recognition Reform bill.
