David Tennant, 54, issues response to JK Rowling following historic woman definition court ruling
David Tennant has shared his thoughts on JK Rowling and their disagreement on transgender issues for the first time since the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling on the definition of a woman.
The 54-year-old Doctor Who and Harry Potter star made the comments during an appearance on ITV1’s new show The Assembly.
Tennant expressed concern about the “demonisation” of the transgender community, comparing it to anti-gay policies of previous Governments.
“When I was a teenager, there was this thing that Mrs Thatcher’s Government introduced called section 28, which was about stopping the promotion of homosexuality in school, which was a weird umbrella term, which was basically saying it was illegal to talk about being gay in school, or to suggest that that might be a normal way of behaving,” he explained.
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“We look back on that now as a medieval, absurd thing to try and say, and I think the way the trans community is being demonised and ‘othered’ is exactly the same. It’s become this kind of political football,” the Scottish actor said.
The Scottish actor, who appeared in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as Barty Crouch Jr, has previously clashed with Rowling over their opposing views on transgender rights.
Regarding the author, Tennant said: “JK Rowling is a wonderful author who’s created brilliant stories, and I wish her no ill will, but I hope that we can all as a society, just let people be. Just get out of people’s way.”
His comments came as the Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that in the 2010 Equality Act, the definition of “women” relates only to biological women.
Justices in London determined that trans women with a gender recognition certificate can be excluded from single-sex spaces if “proportionate”.
Tennant’s relatively conciliatory message was in contrast his previous interactions with Rowling, which intensified last November when she posted to X that her “thoughts and prayers” were “with David Tennant at this very difficult time” after Kemi Badenoch was elected Conservative Party leader.
This came after Tennant had criticised Badenoch, the former UK Minister for Women and Equalities, at the British LGBT Awards in June 2024, saying he wished she would “shut up”.
During that awards speech, Tennant had also referred to critics of transgender rights as “a tiny bunch of little whinging f***ers who are on the wrong side of history”.
Rowling, who has been a vocal supporter of women’s sex-based rights, responded to Tennant’s comments by suggesting he was part of what she termed a “Gender Taliban”.
Since the ruling, the Harry Potter author has also issued blistering broadsides against others, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Starmer told ITV News last week he “welcomed” the Supreme Court ruling for providing “clarity” on the issue.
“Imagine being such a coward you can only muster the courage to tell the truth once the Supreme Court has ruled on what the truth is,” Rowling responded on X.
Responding to Tennant while speaking to GB News, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said: “I spent my entire time as equalities minister really fighting on this issue. I even got abuse from David Tennant.
“I was right. And actually what is now really clear is that the law explains something that all children know, men are men and women are women,” she declared.