Pedro Pascal on why he called out JK Rowling’s ‘loser behaviour’

Pedro Pascal has admitted that he worried whether or not he was helping the trans community after he called out JK Rowling.

The actor, whose sister Lux is trans, criticised the author following the outcome of the UK Supreme Court ruling in April about how the protected characteristic of “sex” is defined and applied in the 2010 Equality Act. The court handed down an 88-page judgement, decreeing that the words “sex” and “woman” referred to “biological sex” and “biological women”, thus excluding transgender people.

The case was brought by gender-critical group For Women Scotland, who were helped to the tune of £70,000 (more than $95,000) by Rowling.

After the verdict was announced, Rowling, well-known for her gender-critical views, posted a photo on social media of herself celebrating with a cigar and a cocktail. “I love it when a plan comes together,” she wrote, before saying her husband has dubbed the announcement TERF VE Day.

Pascal responded by called her actions “awful, disgusting sh*t” and “heinous loser behaviour”.

Now, in an interview with Vanity Fair, he wondered aloud whether that had been the right thing to do in terms of helping the trans community. As the storm around his comments intensified, he felt like “that kid [who] got sent to the principal’s office a lot for behavioural issues in public schools in Texas, feeling scared and thinking: what’d I do?”

He went on to say: “The one thing I agonised over a little bit was am I helping? Am I f**king helping? It’s a situation that deserves the utmost elegance so that something can actually happen, and people will actually be protected. I want to protect the people I love. But it goes beyond that, bullies make me f**king sick.”

Gladiators II star Pascal had often voiced his support for the LGBTQ+ community.

At the UK premiere of Thunderbolts* in April, he arrived on the red carpet wearing a Protect The Dolls t-shirt. The term “dolls” is a reference to transgender women and has its roots in ballroom culture.

Sales of the t-shirt, designed by fashion guru Conner Ives, have raised tens of thousands of pounds for Trans Lifeline.

And in February, following US president Donald Trump signing a number of anti-trans executive orders, Pascal reshared a post from Humans of Pride in which activist Cecilia Gentili delivered a speech at a graduation ceremony for LGBTQ+ college students in 2023.

“I’ve been a trans person for nearly 50 years,” she said. “Knowing your identity, who you are, and where you come from is powerful… one of the most important things we can do for young people is to share those stories. Once we know who we are, we cannot be stopped.”

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