“Awful disgusting S**T is exactly right,” said actor Pedro Pascal in a recent Instagram comment. “Heinous LOSER behavior.”
Pascal, who stars in “The Last of Us” – the second season of which is now airing on HBO – was referring to “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, who has in recent years turned her attention to advocating against the notion that transgender women are women. His comment on activist Tariq Raouf’s Instagram video had almost 10,000 likes as of Saturday.
In the video itself, which had more than 41,000 likes, Raouf described Rowling’s recent behavior as “some serious Voldemort villain s**t,” comparing her to the deranged villain she created for her popular young adult fantasy series. He shared a screenshot of a photo Rowling posted on X last week.
She’s holding a drink in one hand and a cigar in the other in the photo.
“I love it when a plan comes together,” reads the caption.
Elon Musk, the controversial multibillionaire entrepreneur, owner of X and current advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, commented with two fire emojis. Since he was inaugurated, Trump has also made moves to rigidly define genders based on biological sex.
On the day she posted it (last Wednesday), the BBC reported that judges at the U.K. Supreme Court have unanimously ruled that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law. According to the outlet, Rowling posted on social media that: “It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they've protected the rights of women and girls across the U.K.”
However, the BBC also noted that Judge Lord Hodge “said the ruling should not be seen as a triumph of one side over the other, and stressed that the law still gives protection against discrimination to transgender people.”
While Rowling praised the decision, Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman called it a “deeply concerning ruling for human rights and a huge blow to some of the most marginalized people in our society,” per the BBC.
Raouf said in his video that the work Rowling has done has stoked hatred and fear for trans people, a small population, among the general public. He called on viewers to boycott Rowling’s work, including “Harry Potter” books as well as theme parks and other media, such as a TV series based on the books now under development at HBO, due to her stance on transgender issues.
“That s**t – that awful, disgusting s**t? That has consequences,” Raouf said.
According to UCSF, figures about trans people may not be comprehensive since many agencies do not accurately collect data about them. It said that estimates indicate that there is one transwomen for every 30,000 people worldwide and one transman for every 100,000 people worldwide. Transgender people are over four times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime, per the Williams Institute of Law at UCLA.
Transgender rights are close to Pascal’s heart. His sister, Lux Pascal, publicly came out as a transgender woman in 2021, according to People magazine. Lux studied theater in Chile before graduating from the Juilliard School in New York City in May 2023 and she is best known for her appearance in “Narcos” alongside Pedro, with whom People said she has a “tight-knit” relationship.
This Tuesday, Pascal – who is also known for his role as the titular Mandalorian in the Disney+ “Star Wars” universe show “The Mandalorian and Grogu” and will play iconic comic book character Reed Richards in the upcoming “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” from Marvel Studios – expressed more support for the transgender community this week, according to NBC News. He arrived at the London premiere of Marvel’s “Thunderbolts” in a shirt that had the phrase “Protect the Dolls” on it, “dolls” being a nickname for transgender women in the LGBTQ+ community.