Veteran Scottish actor Brian Cox has hit out at the “deeply unjust” treatment of Harry Potter author JK Rowling. The 75-year-old star of HBO drama Successions also described so-called cancel culture as “a kind of modern day McCarthyism” during his appearance on Piers Morgan’s show on TalkTV.
Critics have accused writer Rowling of being transphobic following comments she made in an essay two years ago, an allegation she strongly denies. In the essay, published in June 2020, Rowling explained how she was partly motivated to speak about transgender issues because of her experience of domestic abuse and sexual assault.
During an interview with broadcaster Morgan, Braveheart and Troy star Cox appeared to defend Rowling's right to self-expression, comparing cancel culture to a form of fascism. Cox, who plays media magnate Logan Roy in Succession, said: “It is a kind of modern day McCarthyism really. It is a kind of raid on people’s sensibilities in order to reduce them and make them… I don’t know, there is so much hypocrisy in the whole thing.
