David Tennant issues response after being ‘called out’ by JK Rowling

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David Tennant has responded to JK Rowling’s critcism of him on an episode of The Assembly.

At first, the Doctor Who star looked confused when he was asked to give his view on the author, who is vocally anti-Trans.

ITV’s new show The Assembly sees celebrities face questions from a group of autistic, neurodivergent, and learning disabled people.

During the show, one participant who referred to Tennant as a trans ‘ally’ asked for his opinion on him being ‘called out’ on social media by JK Rowling.

Tennant first responded by saying he’s often unaware of whats going on on social media: ‘I do miss a lot of this because I’m genuinely not in there.’

He continued: ‘Listen, JK Rowling is a wonderful author who has created brilliant stories and I wish her no ill will but I hope that we can all, as a society, just let people be. Just get out of people’s way.’

Tennant has long been a trans ally (Picture: ITV)

Last year, the 54-year-old gave an acceptance speech at the British LGBT Awards that was very critical of then Tory Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch.

Later, in a backstage interview posted on social media, he said that trans people deserve to feel loved and accepted.

He had added: ‘Everyone’s so self-obsessed that really, the sort of noise that comes from a certain area of the Press and of the political class is… it’s a minority.’

He then called critics of Trans rights, ‘a tiny bunch of little whinging f****** [that] are on the wrong side of history and they’ll all go away soon.’

Tennant answered the question on a new episode of The Assembly (Picture: ITV)

In response, Rowling later wrote on X: ‘This man is talking about rape survivors who want female-only care, the nurses currently suing their health trust for making them change in front of a man, girls and women losing sporting opportunities to males and female prisoners incarcerated with convicted sex offenders.’

She hit back at him again when Badenoch became the leader of the Conservative Party.

Writing on social media: ‘My thoughts and prayers are with David Tennant at this very difficult time.’

During the ITV show Tennant was asked what prompted him to ‘become an ally’ to the trans community and responded saying he made the choice in response to the section 28 law passed by the then UK Government under Margaret Thatcher.

JK Rowling celebrated the Supreme Court ruling over the definition of a woman last week (Picture: Instagram)

The law stopped councils and schools ‘promoting the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship’.

He said: ‘We look back on that now as a medieval, absurd thing to say and I think the way the trans community is being demonised and othered is exactly the same.’

The episode comes after Rowling marked the Supreme Court ruling over the definition of a woman last week with a cigarillo and drink on her yacht in the Caribbean Sea – a moment that many found distasteful.

The author, considered a leader of the gender critical movement that saw yesterday’s announcement as a crucial victory, posted the picture to her X account.

Many have found Rowling’s anti-Trans advocacy to be callous and bizarre (Picture: Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Warner Bros.)

Her allies popped champagne outside the court yesterday morning after judge Lord Hodge said the term ‘woman’ in the Equality Act 2010 should be defined according to biological sex assigned at birth.

That definition means trans people, who identify as a different gender from the one they were assigned when they were born, can now be blocked from accessing designated single-sex spaces.

In an interview this morning, head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Baroness Kishwer Falkner said trans women would no longer be welcome in women’s bathrooms or changing rooms.

And the British Transport Police has announced searches of trans women in custody will now be carried out by male officers.

Amid devastation from a small vulnerable community, Rowling took to her social media to write: ‘I love it when a plan comes together.’

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