Years after making snooty indirect remarks about the author who made her career, Emma Watson is back in the spotlight. At first glance it seems that, through her appearance on Jay Shetty’s podcast (supposedly a top mental health podcast globally), she hoped to settle the drama with J. K. Rowling over the transgenderism debate. The podcast is basically the male equivalent of The Drew Barrymore Show, where the host holds the hands of celebrities as they congratulate themselves for overcoming ordinary struggles. While Watson thought she was extending an olive branch, Rowling, in literary-titan fashion, gave her a poetically brutal reality check.

Check out my recent video on Rowling’s clapback to the Harry Potter darling’s faux gesture of goodwill.