'Harry Potter' Actor Robbie Coltrane Speaks Up for JK Rowling, Accuses Critics of 'Waiting to be Offended'

"Harry Potter" actor Robbie Coltrane, who played Hagrid in the film adaptations of J.K. Rowling's fantasy series, spoke up in support of the author and dismissed what he called "a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended."

U.K. newspaper the Independent reports that Coltrane made his comments during an interview with Radio Times.

"I don't think what she said was offensive really," Coltrane said. "I don't know why but there's a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended. They wouldn't have won the war, would they?

"That's me talking like a grumpy old man, but you just think, 'Oh, get over yourself. Wise up, stand up straight and carry on,'" he added. "I don't want to get involved in all of that because of all the hate mail and all that shit, which I don't need at my time of life."

Rowling recently posted a series of tweets about transgender people that have been condemned by many, including "Harry Potter" film star Daniel Radcliffe and "Fantastic Beasts" actor Eddie Redmayne.

Rowling has denied that "trans women are women" and opined, "If sex isn't real, the lived reality of women globally is erased.

"I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives," Rowling added. "It isn't hate to speak the truth."

Away from Twitter, Rowling followed up with a longer thesis on her views, which the Independent noted "was criticized by LGBT+ advocacy groups and others for containing inaccuracies and perpetuating harmful beliefs about transgender people."

The controversy around Rowling's comments was reignited this week when the British newspaper Telegraph reviewed her latest book "Troubled Blood," in which a cis man cross-dresses to kill women.

Rowling wrote the new novel under the pen name Robert Galbraith, media sources said.