Harry Potter star Matthew Lewis has praised the JK Rowling franchise for giving him a career.
The actor starred as Neville Longbottom in the franchise, opposite Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Tom Felton. In the years after the franchise came to an end, Matthew has gone on to appear in the likes of Death In Paradise, Avoidance and Bluestone 42.
But the 34-year-old revealed in a new interview that without JK Rowling's books, he wouldn't have the career he has today as the movies opened a whole new set of doors for him. Matthew's admission comes amidst controversy surrounding JK and her views on the trans community.
The author, 58, has been very vocal about her stance on the community and trans women. It was recently reported that the Scottish author could be investigated by police for misgendering people under the new hate laws implemented in Scotland.
Matthew Lewis shot to fame as Neville Longbottom (UGC)
The actor hasn't addressed JK's comments directly (WireImage)"The opportunities that I have today, the very fact that I'm doing Avoidance on BBC One, it's all come off the back of that. It'd be mad to suggest otherwise," Matthew told Metro. He went on to add: "But that said, it very much feels to me at least, like a chapter of my life that is over. I was content to finish – by their own admission, some of the others possibly weren't.
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"I felt very ready to finish – 10 years was enough for me. I was fortunate enough that my character got what I consider a complete arc. I got to tell his story and finish his story. I got the closure." His admission comes after JK told police to arrest her for her voice in a defiant social media post.
In a series of messages to her 14 million social media followers, she said: "Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal." She added: "I'm currently out of the country, but if what I've written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment." Rowling's comments came after an SNP minister warned that Scots "could be investigated" for wrongly labelling someone's gender online under the new rules. The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act pulls together existing hate crime laws and creates a new offence of encouraging hatred against protected characteristics.
Rowling used Twitter to argue that the new law could lead to campaigners facing repeated police complaints. She argued: "It is impossible to accurately describe or tackle the reality of violence and sexual violence committed against women and girls, or address the current assault on women's and girls' rights, unless we are allowed to call a man a man." She insisted that the "legislation is wide open to abuse by activists who wish to silence those of us speaking out about the dangers of eliminating women's and girls' single-sex spaces".
Her post ended with the hashtags #ArrestMe #AprilFools #HateCrimeActScotland.
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