David Tennant mocked by JK Rowling following Kemi Badenoch win - and it went as well as you’d expect

David Tennant is considered by many to be a national treasure – what with his acclaimed performances in the likes of Doctor Who, Broadchurch and Good Omens – to the extent that many will rush to his defence when he comes under fire from the likes of new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch or, most recently, author JK Rowling.

To recap, Tennant upset Conservative politicians when he received a British LGBT Award for Celebrity Ally back in June and said in his acceptance speech that he wished Badenoch would “shut up” and hoped for a world where she “doesn’t exist”.

The North West Essex MP and former minister for women and equalities has long been vocal in her criticism of identity politics and trans rights.

Leaked recordings from 2018 and published by Vice in September 2021 claim Badenoch complained about “men using women’s bathrooms” and labelled trans women “men” – remarks which a government spokesperson said at the time were “taken out of context”.

And more recently, in June, she outlined plans to amend the Equality Act so that “sex in the law means biological sex” if they won July’s general election, which they very much didn’t.

Badenoch then reignited her row with Tennant when she signalled her intention to stand as the leader of the Conservative Party in September, releasing a video featuring the actor’s original remarks and a new response in which she said she “will not shut up”.

“When you have that type of cultural establishment trying to keep conservatives down, you need someone like me, who’s not afraid of Doctor Who or whoever, and who’s going to take the fight to them, and not let them try and keep us down.

“That’s not going to happen with me,” she said.

Fast forward two months and Badenoch is now the new leader of the Conservatives, with the leadership election concluding on Saturday and the final results seeing her bag more than 53,000 votes compared to rival Robert Jenrick’s 41,388.

The victory has been celebrated by her backers, as well as Harry Potter writer Rowling, who has also made headlines for her anti-trans views.

In two tweets on Saturday, she wrote: “My thoughts and prayers are with David Tennant at this very difficult time.

“I’m delighted a woman who’ll stand up for sex-based rights is now leading the opposition and while there are definitely things we disagree about politically, I admire her brains and bravery.”

Unsurprisingly, many X/Twitter users rushed to defend the actor, pointing out that Tennant likely doesn’t care about Badenoch’s election as much as Rowling suggests he does:

Others used it as an opportunity to praise Tennant’s achievements:

Then there were those who pointed out Tennant is being a supportive father, given he and his wife Georgia are understood to have a non-binary child named Wilfred:

Rowling has attacked Tennant and his stance on trans rights before, as the author slammed the latter’s comments about Badenoch earlier this year by claiming the actor – who starred in the film adaptation of her fourth Harry Potter book, The Goblet of Fire - was part of the “Gender Taliban”.

Meanwhile, Tennant reportedly blocked Rowling from appearing during his tenure as The Doctor in Doctor Who, with showrunner Russell T Davies claiming the actor thought the idea involving the writer “sounds like a spoof”.

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