Controversial Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is making headlines yet again, this time for a series of social media posts calling for her own arrest in defiance of Scotland's new hate
Last month, broadcaster India Willoughby revealed that she filed a police complaint against Rowling over alleged transphobia, claiming that she reported the writer to Northumbria Police for repeatedly misgendering her online as part of an ongoing feud.
“J.K. Rowling has definitely committed a crime. I’m legally a woman. She knows I’m a woman, and she called me a man,” the former Celebrity Big Brother contestant stated. “It’s a protected characteristic, and that is a breach of both the Equalities Act and the Gender Recognition Act. She’s tweeted that out to 14 million followers.”
Willoughby continued, “I have reported J.K. Rowling to the police for what she said, which I don’t know if that’s going to be treated as a hate crime, malicious communications — but it’s a cut-and-dry offense, as far as I’m concerned.”
A new hate crime act did indeed go into effect on Monday in Scotland (Rowling resides in Edinburgh), and includes an offence for “stirring up hatred” regarding age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics.
It doesn't look like Rowling is going to face any criminal charges, however, despite daring police to arrest her on social media.
Rowling shared the following Tweet after first listing 10 trans women - including Willoughby - who would be protected under the act.
As you'd expect, Rowling's Tweets and views have proved to be highly divisive, but she has a powerful ally in U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who released a statement to the Daily Telegraph showing his support.
“People should not be criminalized for stating simple facts on biology,” he said. “We believe in free speech in this country, and Conservatives will always protect it.”
Last year, Warner Bros. Discovery officially announced that a new Harry Potter series is currently being developed for the HBO Max streaming service. The show will fully reboot the popular movies with an entirely new cast, and the plan is to re-adapt the source novels with each season dedicated to one of the seven books.
The news received a somewhat mixed response, and not just because so many fans feel that the films adapted the story perfectly well. The fact that Rowling is involved has come in for a lot of backlash, but HBO Chairman Casey Bloys dismissed concerns as a "very online conversation" at the time.
More recently, WBD boss David Zaslav mentioned that he flew to London to meet with Rowling about the show.
“We spent some real time with J.K. and her team,” Zaslav said. “Both sides are just thrilled to be reigniting this franchise. Our conversations were great, and we couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead. We can’t wait to share a decade of new stories with fans around the world on Max.”
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