Trans rights activists disrupted a red carpet event for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in London on Thursday, in an apparent protest against author JK Rowling and her views on trans rights.
Several protesters rushed onto the red carpet outside the Palace Theatre in the West End as guests arrived for a gala performance of the long-running stage show. Wearing masks and hats, the activists lay across the carpet before being removed by security.
One protester wore a T-shirt bearing the slogan "Rowling money kills", apparently taking aim at the Harry Potter creator and the continued commercial success of the franchise.
The demonstration coincided with a gala celebrating a newly reworked version of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which has been condensed into a single performance lasting almost three hours. The original production, which opened in London's West End in 2016, ran for more than five hours across two parts.
Rowling has become an increasingly contentious figure over her interventions in the debate around transgender rights and gender identity. She has described biological sex as "real" and "immutable" and has criticised self-declared gender identity as "quasi-religious" and "anti-science". She denies being transphobic and has previously said she respects "every trans person's right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them".
Her interventions have prompted protests and boycotts around the Harry Potter franchise. Earlier this year, trans people and allies covered the pavement outside the Palace Theatre with hundreds of chalk messages during a performance of The Cursed Child.
The row has also put Rowling at odds with several actors associated with the Harry Potter films. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Eddie Redmayne have publicly distanced themselves from her views on trans issues.
Thursday's protest took place as a number of television personalities arrived for the gala, including Vanessa Feltz, Richard Arnold, Anne Hegerty and Angellica Bell.
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