Jason Isaacs, who played Lucius Malfoy across six Harry Potter films, has said he refused to join other franchise stars in publicly criticizing J.K. Rowling over her comments on transgender issues, pointing instead to her charitable record with children.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Isaacs, 58, said he did not want to be drawn into condemning Rowling without first speaking to her directly. “So for all that she has said some very controversial things, I was not going to be jumping to st*b her in the front — or back — without a conversation with her, which I’ve not managed to have yet,” he said.
Isaacs pointed to Rowling’s philanthropy through Lumos, the children’s charity she founded, as a reason to weigh the fuller picture. “One of the things that people should know about her too — not as a counter-argument — is that she has poured an enormous amount of her fortune into making the world a much better place, for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children through her charity Lumos,” he said, adding, “And that is unequivocally good. Many of us Harry Potter actors have worked for it, and seen on the ground the work that they do.”
Isaacs’s position set him apart from castmates including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Eddie Redmayne, who have publicly condemned Rowling’s remarks on transgender issues, while others such as Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes have defended her. Rowling has said she would not accept apologies from the actors who criticized her, telling them to keep them to themselves.
