Helena Bonham Carter’s Defense of J.K. Rowling Is Brave, Increasingly Rare: Free Speech Expert

In this April 9, 2015 file photo, "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling lights the Empire State Building to mark the launch of her non-profit children's organization Lumos, in New York. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File

News Analysis

Helena Bonham Carter’s recent comments in defense of author J.K. Rowling and film star Johnny Depp, who have both come under sustained public attack and faced calls for their cancellation from the “woke” community, are unusual for a Hollywood and pop culture star in an age when community censorship poses an ever-present danger to the livelihoods of industry figures, an expert on free speech has told The Epoch Times.

Carter may have felt emboldened to make her controversial comments because she is a well-established star with many awards and iconic roles under her belt, and therefore slightly less susceptible to the pressures and intimidation that keep struggling people in the industry from speaking out against cancellation, the expert said.

In a Nov. 26 interview with London’s Sunday Times, Bonham took a bold stance in favor of Depp, whose defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard captured the world’s attention as it played out in a Virginia courtroom in the spring of 2022. Having lost an earlier lawsuit against News Group Newspapers over allegations printed in the U.K. newspaper The Sun that Depp had physically abused Heard, Depp won $10 million of his $50 million claim against Heard in the 2022 lawsuit, while Heard won $2 million for Depp’s alleged defamation of her. The proceedings polarized viewers, with many feminists concurring with Heard’s portrayal of Depp as an abusive oaf, and others feeling that Depp had been vilified in an excess of indiscriminate #MeToo zeal.

In the interview this past weekend, Heard said that the outcome of the trial left Depp “completely vindicated” and criticized #MeToo for espousing a mob mentality, stating, “That’s the problem with these things—that people will jump on the bandwagon because it’s the trend and to be the poster girl for it.”

The Rowling Furor

The most controversial part of the interview may be Carter’s defense of J.K. Rowling, who has been the target of transgender activists for her insistence on the reality of sex differences. After the dismissal of a researcher from a British think tank in 2018 for having written on Twitter that “it is impossible to change sex,” Rowling sent out tweets of her own questioning whether it is appropriate to fire anyone “for stating that sex is real.”

In a June 2020 tweet, Rowling stated, “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. 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.”

But Rowling’s many critics have been quick to denounce such statements as hateful, and calls for the author’s public excoriation and her cancellation have escalated in recent months. A July Newsweek opinion piece went so far as to argue that Warner Bros., the studio producing films in the $7.7 billion Harry Potter cinematic franchise, “should publicly denounce her, buy her out of the films or even decide not to make any more while she remains at the helm of the franchise.”

Decrying the campaign to cancel Rowling, Carter stated, “It’s horrendous, a load of bollocks,” and added, “I think she has been hounded.”

“It’s been taken to the extreme, the judgmentalism of people. She’s allowed her opinion, particularly if she’s suffered abuse,” Carter added.

Co-Stars Respond

Other people involved with the Harry Potter franchise, including actor Daniel Radcliffe, who has portrayed the eponymous character, have gone to great lengths to distance themselves from Rowling’s views. In an open letter on the website of the activist Trevor Project, Radcliffe apologized to readers of the Harry Potter books who have taken offense at Rowling’s comments and said, “I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you.”

Another young star of the franchise, actress Emma Watson, has also made comments interpreted as critical of Rowling’s views.

In the current environment, Carter’s defense of the embattled Rowling is brave but relatively uncommon, and it is not surprising that younger, less established members of the entertainment industry would take pains to distance themselves from Rowling, believes Clay Calvert, a professor of law and director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project at the University of Florida.

“Expressing viewpoints that fall outside the scope of popular orthodoxies or belief systems today is risky business, so, again, Rowling is certainly brave to say what she feels,” Calvert told The Epoch Times.

“She’s a veteran actor, she’s been in the industry a long time, and she’s comfortable with espousing those views, which is fortunate for her. But for someone who is less well established, it would be much tougher to do,” he added.

Career Anxiety

The Rowling and Depp controversies have played out in an environment where respectful disagreement has all but vanished, and political speech, particularly on Twitter and other online platforms, has devolved into vicious personal attacks on anyone with views deemed heterodox. These realities make themselves felt in particularly acute ways for those members of the entertainment industry who are struggling to make progress in their careers and deeply concerned about the consequences of adverse publicity and the ad hominem flogging that happens daily on Twitter, Calvert observed.

“For an upcoming, aspiring actor, living in L.A., it would be very difficult, given the competition and the political environment, for that actor to express his or her views if they fall outside the accepted orthodoxies in Hollywood, L.A., and the movie industry. You might never get that break you think you have earned, and it would be a career-ender, you’d end up waiting tables, not as a part-time gig but as a permanent job,” Calvert continued.

This is not to say that figures in the industry never take heterodox positions, but, again, they tend to be such established, senior figures that there is no possibility of their celebrity fading.

“If you think of the people who have taken conservative stances recently, they’re veterans. Clint Eastwood spoke out at the Republican convention [in 2012]. Eastwood is a veteran actor and he’s got the money and the wherewithal, but if you’re a young, aspiring talent trying to break into the industry, you’re probably better off just keeping your mouth shut. It’s probably not worth taking the risk,” Calvert said.