John Oliver gets far less attention than his shoddy progressive content deserves. So it's nice to see him taking it on the chin this week thanks to someone who actually knows what they're talking about. That someone is JK Rowling and she was responding to a segment of Oliver's show in which he went on the usual bug-eyed rant, this time focused on trans athletes. Here's a bit of that.

John Oliver claims that there is no safety threat having male students compete against girls.

Payton McNabb suffered severe head injuries after being spiked in the face by a male competitor during a high school volleyball game.

She now has 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀. pic.twitter.com/KWSLNy1bJN

— Gays Against Groomers (@againstgrmrs) November 15, 2024

There were several good responses to this, including this one.

John Oliver went through all 4 steps in record time. https://t.co/oSuThCCxOz pic.twitter.com/KZsqPJQ4qd

— Rob Henderson (@robkhenderson) November 15, 2024

Sunday, Rowling uncorked a lengthy response which was clearly tempered by her personal interactions with Oliver in the past.

Nothing about this feels good, because John Oliver generously gave his time for my charity Lumos and I liked him very much when I met him, but God knows, if you ever need an example of motivated reasoning and confirmation bias, this video's for you. An undoubtedly intelligent person spouts absolute bullshit to support something he wants to be true, but isn't.

According to the UN, female athletes have lost nearly 900 medals to trans-identified men competing against them in women’s sporting categories. Girls have been ousted from teams to make way for boys. Women have suffered serious injury playing against trans-identified men (see Payton McNabb, mentioned below). 

Again and again I've come up against men who argue exactly what Oliver does here, using the very same talking points. With a straight face, the 'believe the science' guys will say 'actually, we don't yet have enough data to say whether men and boys are stronger and faster than women and girls'. The 'be kind' crew can't see what the issue is. 'Why are you bothered, it only affects a tiny minority of females?' 

To prove to their progressive credentials - and (coincidentally, I'm sure) indemnify themselves against repercussions from cultural elites in the media, academia and publishing who've showed themselves more than ready to kick people to the kerb for failing to mouth the approved mantras - people with a lot to lose are currently prepared to make idiots of themselves. They'll stare unabashedly into a camera and insist that their audiences' eyeballs are incapable of seeing what's plain as day, and that there's something wrong with the great unwashed for believing that girls are being robbed of opportunities and put at physical risk.  

If you want to tell the world you're happy to watch females suffer injury, humiliation and the loss of sporting opportunities to bolster an elitist post-modern ideology embraced by a minute fraction of the world's population, fair enough; you're allowed your opinion. But if you've just told girls they don't deserve fair sport, maybe rethink using all too real and common sexual predation against young women as a punchline for your 'edgy' closing joke.

Insightful, well-argued commentary like this has made Rowling the focus of intense hatred from the left. Just yesterday, Libs of TikTok posted this clip of a deranged person recommending trans people come together to murder Rowling.

“I condone m*rder!”

Trans activist calls to ass*ss*nate @jk_rowling and for the LGBTQ community to m*rder other politicians. @FBI pic.twitter.com/LdV7npLR6a

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) November 19, 2024

Again, she had a great response.

I mean... pic.twitter.com/oqpcMazc0w

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) November 19, 2024

The similarities are pretty remarkable.

In any case, there has been no response yet from John Oliver. He hasn't posted anything new on X since last week. Maybe he's moved over to Bluesky. He'll fit right in over there.