Daniel Radcliffe has spent years and years being chased by the spectre of boy-wizard Harry Potter, with people refusing to believe he can be a real actor after shooting his way to fame atop a magical broomstick. However, it looks as though, even if he doesn’t make it as a bona fide character actor (though his earnings and roles in fairly decent films seem to attest he already is), he can carve out a living in throwing out some snappy one liners. Not that he’d get paid for that, but he should do, because you may be very impressed with what he’s just said in a recent interview.
On the promo trail for his new film, Horns, an interviewer explained to Daniel that his fans have the horn for him: ‘You’re kind of becoming a sex symbol. Which, for some of your fans, is kind of weird because we’ve seen you growing up on screen and now here you are…'
READ MORE: Emma Watson Made An Incredibly Inspiring Speech About Feminism At The UN
To which he replied: ‘Around the time of What If, the rom com coming out, a lot of people were saying “You’re really an unconventional romantic lead.”
‘And so eventually I got bored of hearing that and I kind of picked someone up on it so I was like, “What about me is unconventional, exactly? Like, tell me.”’
‘And she said, “Well, I think it’s probably the fact that, you know, we associated you with playing Harry, the young boy wizard.”’
What Daniel says right now is absolutely incredible, so hold on tight: ‘My immediate response was, “Well the male population has had no problem sexualising Emma Watson immediately.”’
Which hits the hammer on the head of the nail that seals the coffin that was anyone’s pretence that Emma Watson was treated just the same as Daniel and Rupert Grint as the Harry Potter film series went on. The way she was treated differently? That girls are expected to be sexy younger and boys aren't? Well, that's sexism at work.
Emma herself mentioned the sexualisation she was treated to by members of press when she was well underage, at her recent #HeForShe speech at the UN. Speaking of the sexism she’s been through, she said: ‘When at 14 I started being sexualized by certain elements of the press.’
READ MORE: Daniel Radcliffe Thinks The Friend Zone is Total Bullshit
She then called for more men to be involved in feminism, to see that it’s not a men vs women thing, and that men can help overturn feminism, and totally need to.
Though David Cameron’s hit headlines today for refusing to wear a ‘This Is What A Feminist Looks Like’ t-shirt for a magazine shoot (Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg both wore one), it seems like Daniel Radcliffe’s already a fully paid-up card-carrying feminist. Considering his huge appeal and influence amongst young people, that is one brilliant thing.
Like this? You might also be interested in:
Emma Watson Speech Would Have MAde Taylor Swift A Feminist Way Younger
Hackers Threaten To Publish Nude Pictures Of Emma Watson Because She's A Feminist
We Expect Female YouTube Stars To Be Role Models, So Why Not The Men?
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.