US conservative commentator Candace Owens has criticised actress Emma Watson, amid the ongoing trans row between Harry Potter creator JK Rowling and the stars of the globally successful films.

Rowling first aired her views on transgender women back in 2020, after reposting an op-ed by Marni Sommer, Virginia Kamowa, Therese Mahon on “a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate”.

Rowling took to X, formerly known as Twitter, in response to the written piece, stating “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

Following widespread backlash on the post, Rowling also shared her views on sex, adding: “I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”

Candace Owens slammed Emma Watson for ‘throwing JK Rowling under the bus’GB News

Many Harry Potter actors have spoken out against the views of Rowling, with Harry Potter himself Daniel Radcliffe being the first to speak out.

In a statement, Radcliffe said: “While Jo is unquestionably responsible for the course my life has taken, as someone who has been honoured to work with and continues to contribute to The Trevor Project for the last decade, and just as a human being, I feel compelled to say something at this moment. Transgender women are women.”

He continued: “To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished. I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you.”

Emma Watson also spoke out on X against Rowling’s comments. Addressing her transgender followers, Watson said: “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.

“I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are.”

In a discussion on trans ideology and the ongoing row between Rowling and her film’s stars, Owens told GB News that she is “proud” of Rowling for “sticking to her guns”.

Owens said: “Obviously she’s tremendously talented, she has a huge platform and she has stuck by her figurative guns in this capacity.

“So much so that the story of JK Rowling and the treatment of JK Rowling is something that can be learned from. And so I am proud of her for doing this.”

Owens then hit out at actress Emma Watson’s criticism of Rowling’s views on transgender women in recent years, branding it “horrific”.

Owens fumed: “The self-proclaimed feminist a la Emma Watson, the person who was made essentially by the wizarding world of Harry Potter, who says to the public that she’s a feminist, how quickly she was willing to throw JK Rowling under the bus to help men, to help men that say I’m a woman on the inside, which is quite amazing.

“She has to talk about the patriarchy, talk about feminism, and then the first opportunity that she had to actually be a feminist and to stand by a woman who has done so much for her, she threw her under the bus. And so that kind of gets into the category of the scam of feminism that I often talk about on my platform as well, because it has been rabid feminists that have been pushing this trans ideology.”

Owens continued: “Kudos to JK Rowling, because it takes bravery to stand up to the mob and to say something that should be so abundantly obvious. Women are women and men are men, but we are living in a backwards society where saying something as abundantly obvious and as abundantly true, is difficult to say.

“People lose their entire careers and their livelihoods. So I’m very proud of the person that she is today because as I said, this is a most crucial issue that will be at the forefront in the UK very soon if it isn’t already, and you’re going to need leaders and people that have a backbone to stand up to it.”