Comedian Stephen Fry has turned on his pal JK Rowling, claiming she had been “radicalised by TERFS”.

The gay author and actor, who narrated the audiobooks for all seven Harry Potter titles, sparked controversy in 2022 when he failed to condemn her beliefs about trans people despite saying his transgender friends had been left “deeply upset” by her views.

But during a live recording of The Show People podcast at London bar the Two Brewers last week, he criticised the author and gender-critical activist.

“She has been radicalised I fear and it may be she has been radicalised by TERFs, but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her,” Fry told The Show People podcast (as reported by Daily Mail). “It is unhelpful and only hardens her and will only continue to harden her, I am afraid. She seems to be a lost cause for us.

“She started to make these peculiar statements and had very strong difficult views. She seemed to wake up or kick a hornet’s nest of transphobia which has been entirely destructive. I disagree profoundly with her on this subject. I am angry she does not disavow some of the more revolting and truly horrible, violently destructive things that people say. She does not attack those at all.

“She says things that are inflammatory and contemptuous, mocking, and add to a terribly distressing time for trans people. She has crowed at the success of legislation in Scotland and elsewhere, declaring things about gender.

“So, I am very happy to go on the record to say that I am really angry. My view about all things of [a] sharp and difficult nature is that it is much more important to be effective than to be right.”

He had always “liked” Rowling and “found her charming, funny and interesting” but “then this thing happened and it completely altered the way she talks and engages with the world now”.

The comments mark something of a departure from Fry’s previous statements on trans issues.

Appearing on Roger Bolton’s Beeb Watch podcast three years ago, he said the fight for trans rights was “an issue where two sides are very sore and very anxious about their enemies”.

He went on to say: “[Rowling’s] a friend of mine, and I have trans friends and intersex friends who are deeply upset by her. That’s a circle I have to square personally. I’m not going to abandon my friends.”

It was an argument he did not want to get involved in because it was upsetting for both sides.

“I would wish them both to retreat and to consider that it is possible for trans people to live full, accepted lives, according to their terms, in society, and for women to have all the rights and dignities that they demand,” he said.

“But it isn’t possible if each side looks on the other as an enemy.”

In December, Fry was criticised for revoking his support for Stonewall, when he said he had “no interest in supporting this current wave of non-sensical [policies].” He described the LGBTQ+ charity as “shameful and sad” and “stuck in a terrible, terrible quagmire”.

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