Comedian Stephen Fry has turned on his pal JK Rowling, claiming she had been “radicalised by TERFS”.

The gay author and actor, who narrated the audiobooks for all seven Harry Potter titles, sparked controversy in 2022 when he failed to condemn her beliefs about trans people despite saying his transgender friends had been left “deeply upset” by her views.

But during a live recording of The Show People podcast at London bar the Two Brewers last week, he criticised the author and gender-critical activist.

“She has been radicalised I fear and it may be she has been radicalised by TERFs, but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her,” Fry told The Show People podcast (as reported by Daily Mail). “It is unhelpful and only hardens her and will only continue to harden her, I am afraid. She seems to be a lost cause for us.

“She started to make these peculiar statements and had very strong difficult views. She seemed to wake up or kick a hornet’s nest of transphobia which has been entirely destructive. I disagree profoundly with her on this subject. I am angry she does not disavow some of the more revolting and truly horrible, violently destructive things that people say. She does not attack those at all.

“She says things that are inflammatory and contemptuous, mocking, and add to a terribly distressing time for trans people. She has crowed at the success of legislation in Scotland and elsewhere, declaring things about gender.