J.K. Rowling has taken aim at John Oliver for comments he made defending transgender athletes in women's sports.
Oliver said on his HBO show last week there was "no evidence" transgender women "pose any threat to safety or fairness."
Rowling fired back at Oliver in a lengthy post on X, accusing him of supporting an "elitist post-modern ideology" and being indifferent to women facing humiliation in sports.
"Nothing about this feels good, because John Oliver generously gave his time for my charity Lumos, and I liked him very much when I met him, but God knows, if you ever need an example of motivated reasoning and confirmation bias, this video's for you," she began.
The post was accompanied by a clip of Oliver defending transgender athletes, saying: "An undoubtedly intelligent person spouts absolute [expletive] to support something he wants to be true, but isn't."
Rowling pointed out Oliver had frequently "come up against men who argue exactly what Oliver does here, using the very same talking points.'"
"With a straight face, the 'believe the science' guys will say 'actually, we don't yet have enough data to say whether men and boys are stronger and faster than women and girls.' The 'be kind' crew can't see what the issue is: 'Why are you bothered, it only affects a tiny minority of females?'" she wrote.
Rowling argued some people eager to appear progressive and avoid backlash from influential cultural groups are willing to ignore obvious truths. She criticized them for denying clear issues, such as girls losing opportunities and facing risks, while dismissing valid concerns from the public.
"If you want to tell the world you're happy to watch females suffer injury, humiliation, and the loss of sporting opportunities to bolster an elitist post-modern ideology embraced by a minute fraction of the world's population, fair enough; you're allowed your opinion," she wrote. "But if you've just told girls they don't deserve fair sport, maybe rethink using all too real and common sexual predation against young women as a punchline for your 'edgy' closing joke."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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