He Who Must Not Be Named is sticking by She Who Should Probably Stop Talking. In an interview with The New York Times, Ralph Fiennes, who famously played Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise, shared his thoughts about the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling’s perceived transphobic remarks, saying that he believes the “verbal abuse directed at her is disgusting” and “appalling.”

Rowling has repeatedly come under fire for her comments and tweets about women that many find to be anti-trans and examples of trans-exclusionary radical feminism. “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people,” Rowling tweeted in 2020. “Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” In response, Daniel Radcliffe, who portrayed Rowling’s titular character over the course the franchise, wrote a blog post for LGBTQ advocacy group the Trevor Project, calling out Rowling in the process. “Transgender women are women,” wrote Radcliffe. “Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”

Fiennes, who stars in the upcoming movie The Menu, centered his defense of the Potter scribe on the content found within her novels, saying that Rowling’s books are about “empowerment.” “J.K. Rowling has written these great books about empowerment, about young children finding themselves as human beings,” he said. “It’s about how you become a better, stronger, more morally centered human being. The verbal abuse directed at her is disgusting, it’s appalling.”

Fiennes went on to acknowledge that Rowling’s repeated comments regarding womanhood may be offensive to some, but also defended her perspective. “I mean, I can understand a viewpoint that might be angry at what she says about women,” Fiennes told the Times. “But it’s not some obscene, über-right-wing fascist. It’s just a woman saying, ‘I’m a woman and I feel I’m a woman and I want to be able to say that I’m a woman.’ And I understand where she’s coming from. Even though I’m not a woman.”

In the interview, Fiennes revealed that he turned his nose up at playing the defender of the dark arts at first. “I was a bit sniffy, I think, initially,” he said. “I thought, Oh, this is a children’s fantasy thing. I’m not sure.” Ultimately, his sister Martha Fiennes convinced him to take on the role, telling him it was a “stonkingly vast, mega, mega part.” Fiennes also expressed his distaste for cancel culture. “Righteous anger is righteous, but often it becomes kind of dumb because it can’t work its way through the gray areas,” he said. “It has no nuance.”