J.K. Rowling Says John Oliver ‘Spouts Absolute Bulls—’ About Trans Athletes Not Posing ‘Any Threat to Safety and Fairness’ in Women’s Sports

J.K. Rowling has slammed John Oliver on X over his support for transgender athletes in women’s sports, calling him an “undoubtedly intelligent person” who “spouts absolute bullshit.”

The “Harry Potter” author — who has come under fire in recent years for her views on trans women that many perceive as being anti-trans — is making headlines for her response to a recent segment of Oliver’s HBO talk show “Last Week Tonight.”

“There are vanishingly few trans girls competing in high schools anywhere,” Oliver said in the segment. “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.”

He added, “Finally, 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.”

Rowling responded to this in a long post on X, beginning with: “Nothing about this feels good, because John Oliver generously gave his time for my charity Lumos and I liked him very much when I met him, but God knows, if you ever need an example of motivated reasoning and confirmation bias, this video’s for you.”

She continued to call Oliver “an undoubtedly intelligent person spouts absolute bullshit to support something he wants to be true, but isn’t.”

“Again and again I’ve come up against men who argue exactly what Oliver does here, using the very same talking points,” she wrote. “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.”

Rowling said Oliver is among those who seek to “indemnify themselves against repercussions from cultural elites in the media, academia and publishing who’ve showed themselves more than ready to kick people to the kerb for failing to mouth the approved mantras – people with a lot to lose are currently prepared to make idiots of themselves.”

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.”

Representatives for Oliver and HBO did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

Rowling has received backlash for her views, which she first made public in 2017, from those within and outside of the “Harry Potter” community. When the news was announced last year that a “Harry Potter” TV series was in the works at HBO and Rowling would be involved, some fans threatened to boycott it.

Despite her controversial statements, HBO has continued to work with Rowling, with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav saying earlier this year that he and a few other execs had met with her about the show.

“We spent some real time with J.K. and her team,” Zaslav said on an earnings call. “Both sides are just thrilled to be reigniting this franchise. Our conversations were great, and we couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead. We can’t wait to share a decade of new stories with fans around the world on Max.”