Mark Hamill explains why he liked JK Rowlings’ transphobic tweet following criticism

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Mark Hamill has defended himself after becoming the center of fan anger for liking a JK Rowling tweet that many users deemed transphobic.

The prominent Star Wars actor was recently called out to a number of people who found he liked the Harry Potter writers’ response to an earlier post by ITV’s first trans broadcaster, India Willoughby.

I’m more of a woman than JK Rowling will ever be, the Loose Women host wrote, to which Rowling replied: Citation needed.

The Independent has contacted Rowlings’ rep for comment.

Why are you hitting the like button to [Rowlings] transphobic hate crusade? one user commented, tagging Hamill, 71.

Another added: Hey @MarkHamill I don’t know if you realized this but that tweet you liked from JK Rowling is extremely transphobic. Endorsing this kind of bigoted rhetoric seems extremely over the top to you, so before my heart breaks, please tell me it was a misunderstanding or a mistake.

Following the social media pile-up, Hamill, who is known to be an outspoken Democrat, explained himself.

What I liked about this exchange was that someone spoke their truth to power, Hamill said.

Twitter is unfortunately not a place for nuance. It is imperative that I say it very clearly: I support human rights for ALL, regardless of their gender identity, PERIOD.

Hours before his clarification, Willoughby had supported Hamill, saying: I’m a fan of Mark Hamill. He’s a good guy. Ignore that typical Murdoch garbage @FoxNews crap. Brands totally OK with LGBT.

This is the second time Hamill has mistakenly liked a problematic Rowling tweet. In 2019, he liked her post in which she claimed women were being forced out of their jobs for saying sex is real, adding the hashtags #IStandWithMaya and #ThisIsNotADrill.

Ignorance is no excuse, but I liked the tweet without understanding what the last line or the hashtags meant, Hamill later said. It was the first four lines that I liked and didn’t realize they had a transphobic undertone.

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