Rakie Ayola starred as Hermione Granger in ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ on the West End from 2017 to 2018. (Getty)
Rakie Ayola, former star of the West End’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, has said she would love to sit down with J.K Rowling to discuss the author’s statements about transgender people.
Ayola, who now stars in Netflix series Kaos as Queen of the Underworld Persephone opposite David Thewlis, Jeff Goldblum, and Janet McTeer, played Hermione Granger in the West End production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child from 2017 to 2018.
Ayola said she met J.K Rowling once before but did not have the opportunity to speak to her in-depth, though now she would want to discuss trans issues in particular after feeling confused over why Rowling is focused on transgender people.
Speaking to Newsweek, she said: “I’m not naïve enough that I don’t recognize the conversation, of course, I recognise it, how could I not? But I’m just really curious to know why I personally don’t feel like I hear from her unless it’s to talk about trans people and their rights or not.”
“I don’t understand what’s concerning her the rest of the time, is this the only thing? I, of course, recognize women have fought very, very hard for the rights that we have and the fear that they will be taken away is very real. I’m not naïve enough not to recognise that,” Ayola continued.
“But I just sometimes think, people are just trying to live their lives. Most people are trying to live their lives in a way that makes them some kind of happy,” she added.
Rowling has been involved in a number of controversies in the past few years for her views and comments on transgender people.
She has previously been called out for her tweets, which often involved misgendering high-profile trans people including news broadcaster India Willoughby and Sutton United team manager Lucy Clark and accusations of bullying.
Recently, Rowling has been the subject of a legal complaint for alleged cyber harassment over statements regarding the gender of Olympic boxer Imane Khelif. Rowling was unhappy about Khelif’s inclusion in the Olympics and incorrectly referred to the boxer as a “man”.
She also called trans Paralympian Valentina Petrillo, who is trans, a “cheat” just four days ago.
Ayola is not the only Harry Potter actor to disagree with Rowling’s views, as actors from the original films – Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, and Bonnie Wright – have denounced her statements and expressed support for the trans community.
“There are dangerous people everywhere but we can’t allow ourselves to decide that the dangerous people represent all of their group, all of their community, all of their, whatever it be—all of their gender, all of their sexuality, all of their ethnicity, whatever it is we’re talking about,” Ayola said.
She added that we can’t “allow other people who just want to live their lives to be defined” by the “worst of humanity”.
