Actor Pedro Pascal calls ‘Harry Potter’ author ‘heinous loser’

Though actor Pedro Pascal, star of HBO’s “The Last of Us,” already has plenty of attention for his character’s dramatic season two arc, the upcoming star of Marvel’s “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” is raising eyebrows for comments he recently made about the creator of a different book and film series.

This week, Pascal, 50, spoke out against “Harry Potter” creator J.K. Rowling, calling the billionaire author a “heinous loser” due to her well-publicized (and criticized) anti-trans views.

Pascal’s comment was a reply to an Instagram post by activist Tariq Raouf calling for a boycott of the forthcoming “Harry Potter” TV series reboot (and all things “Potter”) after Rowling made a post celebrating the U.K. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling which established that the country’s legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex. As explained by Reuters, the ruling means trans women could be excluded from services for women, including refuges and hospitals.

In response to the U.K. ruling, Rowling posted a photo of herself smoking a cigar and having a cocktail on a boat, with a caption reading: “I love it when a plan comes together.” #SupremeCourt #WomensRights.”

Rowling was criticized (and celebrated by some) for the post, in addition to a reported donation of £70,000 to For Scotland Women, the anti-trans campaign group which brought about the lawsuit that resulted in the ruling. Though calls for boycotts of “Potter” merchandise and content are nothing new, Rowling’s reported contribution to making real-life change in trans people’s lives has kicked things into a higher gear.

“J.K. Rowling is reveling in the fact that she helped the U.K. Supreme Court get to the point where they can define that trans women are not women, legally,” said Raouf. “She’s just so proud of all the work that she’s been doing over the last few years to stoke hatred and fear into the general public about a very small minority population… So I think it has become our mission as the general public to make sure that every single thing that’s ‘Harry Potter’-related fails.”

In a reply to Raouf, Pascal wrote: “Awful disgusting SH-T is exactly right. Heinous LOSER behavior.”

Pascal’s reply received over 4,000 likes as of Thursday. Pascal, who has been acting since the late 1990s but rose to prominence in recent years after roles in HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and Disney’s “The Mandalorian.” The actor is active in the LGBTQ+ community, with a trans sister Lux and a noted close friendship with gay actor Russell Tovey.

Pascal, who will play Rex Reed/Mister Fantastic in the forthcoming Marvel film, also showed trans support recently at the U.K. premiere of Marvel’s “Thunderbolts,” where Pascal wore a “Protect the Dolls” T-shirt, which was created by designer Conner Ives and for which proceeds benefit Trans Lifeline, a support hotline for the trans community operated by trans people.

It’s not the first time Pascal has spoken out for trans rights. Earlier this year, Pascal posted to Instagram a photo of a sign reading “A world without trans people has never existed and never will,” along with the caption: “I can’t think of anything more vile and small than terrorizing the smallest, most vulnerable community of people who want nothing from you, except for the right to exist.”

Though Rowling received much backlash for her recent comments, the 59 year-old author recently reposted a previous response to a previous backlash in response to the current one.

Last September, one X user told Rowling they were “burning her pathetic books” while roasting marshmallows, to which Rowling responded, “I get the same royalties whether you read them or burn them. Enjoy your marshmallows!”

For his part, Raouf says that this kind of attitude is exactly why Rowling should be held accountable with her pocketbook. In his video, which has over 36,000 likes, Raouf explains that those who support trans people should boycott anything “Harry Potter” that could benefit Rowling (meaning, nothing you already own) the same way others have boycotted others for decisions they made.

He explained: “If we could boycott Starbucks and boycott McDonald’s to the point where they saw massive dips in their sales and had to literally close a tons of stores because the general public just wasn’t supporting them anymore, then I sure as h-ll think the general public could just make sure that ‘Harry Potter’ is no longer profitable — for anyone that dares to do business with J.K. Rowling.”