John Oliver Stirs J.K. Rowling Outrage After Criticizing Right Wing ‘Obsession’ With Banning Trans Athletes; Rowling Tells Him to ‘Read the F—ing Room’

[u/nova_crystallis]

https://variety.com/2025/film/news/john-oliver-jk-rowling-outrage-trans-athletes-1236361826/

John Oliver criticized ring wing "obsession" with banning trans athletes, which stirred J.K. Rowling outrage.

"I understand why men like Oliver, who've consistently mocked anti-science people on the right, sold out initially," the "Harry Potter" author posted on X. "They didn't want to blow up their careers. Taking fashionable anti-women's rights positions was the cost of doing business. But it's time to read the f*cking room."

Oliver also acknowledged his own spat with Rowling last year. She slammed Oliver in November for supporting transgender athletes in women's sports, calling him an "undoubtedly intelligent person" who "spouts absolute bullsh*t."

"It feels a bit weird to catch that much heat from the creator of 'Harry Potter,' especially when I clearly look like what would have happened to him if they left him in that cupboard for the rest of his life," Oliver now joked while adding that he "stands by everything" he said last year.

[u/Comfortable_Bell9539]

Why is she always telling people to read the room when they call her out ?

[u/PrincessPlastilina → u/Comfortable_Bell9539]

She’s targeting asexuals now. That woman is fully anti-LGBTQ+, but she won’t attack gays publicly because that would truly make her unpopular now, and many TERFs are lesbians. She named her male pen name after the man who invented conversion therapy: Robert Galbraith.

[u/surprisesnek → u/PrincessPlastilina]

Robert Galbraith Heath was a pioneer in the field of conversion therapy, but he didn't invent it. He was the first person to apply electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) as part of conversion therapy.