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John Oliver has once again provoked J.K. Rowling when it comes to the topic of trans athletes. Oliver devoted the bulk of “Last Week Tonight” on April 6 to criticizing the MAGA and right wing “obsession” with wanting to ban transgender athletes in sports, which includes at the school level. Rowling fired back at the HBO host on X.
“I understand why men like Oliver, who’ve consistently mocked anti-science people on the right, sold out initially,” the “Harry Potter” author posted. “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 fucking room.”
During the segment, Oliver acknowledged his own spat with Rowling last year over the topic. The author slammed Oliver in November over his support for transgender athletes in women’s sports, calling him an “undoubtedly intelligent person” who “spouts absolute bullshit.”
“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.
I understand why men like Oliver, who’ve consistently mocked anti-science people on the right, sold out initially. 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 fucking room. https://t.co/FyEkqtaxcL— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 7, 2025
While speaking on the topic last year on “Last Week Tonight,” Oliver said: “There are vanishingly few trans girls competing in high schools anywhere. Even if there were more, trans kids — like all kids — vary in athletic ability and there is no evidence they pose any threat to safety or fairness… if you genuinely want to address the biggest concern for most girls who play high school sports, you’d be less worried about this and more about the creepy assistant volleyball coach who keeps liking their posts on fucking Instagram.”
“Again and again I’ve come up against men who argue exactly what Oliver does here, using the very same talking points,” Rowling responded at the time. “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.”
She concluded: “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. 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.”
Rowling and Oliver now both have a home at HBO. Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” is currently in its 12th season on the network, while Rowling’s “Harry Potter” franchise is now in development as an HBO series that is expected to go into production this year for a potential 2026 launch.
Watch Oliver’s latest “Last Week Tonight” segment in the video below.
