A simmering battle between “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling and India Willoughby, a British broadcast, has dramatically escalated, turning into a war of referrals to the police, with Willoughby going to the Northumbria Police and accusing Rowling of “transphobia,” with Rowling in turn accusing Willoughby of harassment.
As background, Willoughby is a transgender broadcaster who has appeared on shows like Celebrity Big Brother and has a long-standing feud with Rowling over Rowling’s “misgendering.” Their feud has recently played out on X, with Rowling refusing to use the gendered pronouns the Willoughby argues are appropriate, a potential hate crime in the UK.
The criminal complaint appears to have been sparked by a March 4, 2024, tweet in which Rowling, who many contend is a so-called “TERF,” or “Trans-Exculsionary Radical Feminist,” said, “India didn’t become a woman. India is cosplaying a misogynistic male fantasy of what a woman is.”
Willoughby, commenting on the matter in an interview, said that Rowling’s misgendering show “the mask is off,” telling Byline TV, “The mask is off. People historically have given her the benefit of the doubt, hearing that all she is doing is defending women’s rights. She can’t argue that anymore now that she’s actually come out and broadly said to me that India Willoughby is a man.”
Continuing, Willoughby added, in the Byline TV interview, “I’m legally a woman. She knows I’m a woman and she calls me a man. It’s a protected characteristic, and that is a breach of both the Equalities Act and the Gender Recognition Act.”
Deadline, reporting on the matter, noted that “The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service states that hostility based on transgender identity can be prosecuted as a hate crime” and that the Northumbria Police, the department to which Willoughby referred the complaint, said, “On Monday, March 4, we received a complaint about a post on social media. We are currently awaiting to speak to the complainant further.”
Watch Willoughby here:
EXCLUSIVE 🚨🚨🚨@IndiaWilloughby has called the police and reported @jk_rowling for an alleged hate crime for misgendering her.
This could lead to Rowling’s arrest. pic.twitter.com/iJMDmDeMaO
— Byline TV (@BylineTV) March 6, 2024
Rowling, after the Willoughby interview, fired back on X with a complaint of her own. She said, “Some time ago, lawyers advised me that not only did I have a clearly winnable case against India Willoughby for defamation, but that India’s obsessive targeting of me over the past few years may meet the legal threshold for harassment.”
She continued, “I ignored this advice because I couldn’t be bothered giving India the publicity he so clearly craves. Nevertheless, we must all do our bit to combat hate, so India will be glad to know I’ve taken note of his homophobia, racism, and humane stance on immigration.” She then said that Willoughby has displayed “shocking transphobia,” giving tweets as examples.
Concluding her thread with another attack on Willoughby, Rowling said, “Aware as I am that it’s an offense to lie to law enforcement, I’ll simply have to explain to the police that, in my view, India is a classic example of the male narcissist who lives in a state of perpetual rage that he can’t compel women to take him at his own valuation.”
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