Credit: Universal Studios JapanPolice have officially dismissed a hate crime case filed against Harry Potter author JK Rowling.
Earlier this week, British broadcaster India Willoughby – who made history as the UK’s first transgender national television newsreader – went to Northumbria Police over an online conflict with the writer.
On March 3, Rowling publicly criticized the concept of trans women being allowed in women’s changing rooms on X (formerly known as Twitter), where she mentioned Willoughby by name.
She wrote: “India didn’t become a woman. India is cosplaying a misogynistic male fantasy of what a woman is.”
Willoughby later spoke to Byline Magazine, where the 58-year-old presenter stated that Rowling had “definitely committed a crime. I’m legally a woman. She knows I’m a woman and she calls me a man. It’s a protected characteristic.”
Northumbria Police have since released a statement, confirming that they will not be pursuing the incident as a hate crime.
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“On Monday, March 4, we received a complaint about a post on social media,” it said. “While we recognise the upset this may have caused, the post was reviewed and did not meet the criminal threshold. The complainant has been updated of this.”
Willoughby has since clarified that while it was not defined as a hate crime, it “did meet the threshold to be officially recorded by the police as a Non Crime Hate INCIDENT. This is important, as it highlights the most important part (for [Willoughby]) of JK Rowling’s horrendous comments, which are putting the trans community in danger. A record has been made.”
Prior to this ruling, Rowling criticized Willoughby’s decision to go to the police, claiming that lawyers advised her that she has a “clearly winnable case against India Willoughby for defamation” and that “India’s obsessive targeting of [Rowling] over the past few years may meet the legal threshold for harassment.”
For reference, this is the individual whose precious feelings are more important than truth, according to some of his fellow men. If you think women calling this person a man is more offensive than him publicly fantasising about kidnapping women, I can’t help you.
For reference, this is the individual whose precious feelings are more important than truth, according to some of his fellow men. If you think women calling this person a man is more offensive than him publicly fantasising about kidnapping women, I can't help you. pic.twitter.com/mrqIC8jbtL
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 4, 2024
Rowling later released a lengthier statement on X, where she defended her beliefs on gender. “Like every other gender critical person I know, I believe everyone should be free to express themselves however they wish, dress however they please, call themselves whatever they want, sleep with any consenting adult who wishes to sleep with them, and that trans-identified people should have the same protections regarding employment, housing, freedom of speech and personal safety every other citizen is entitled to,” she wrote.
She also added that the “dominant strain of trans activism” believes that “trans-identified men” should be able to strip away women’s rights and access single sex spaces such as rape crisis centers, prison cells, hospital wards, changing rooms and public bathrooms, “until we all bow down to their neo-religion, accept their pseudo-scientific claims and embrace their circular reasoning, trans people are more oppressed, and more at risk, than any other group in society.”
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Rowling has a prolific history of engaging in heated controversy with both members and supporters of the transgender community on X. For this reason, the author has become a polarizing figure for those in the Harry Potter fandom, with many calling for others to boycott new projects such as the video game Hogwarts Legacy and the upcoming television reboot of the franchise for Max.
What do you think about the conflict between JK Rowling and India Willoughby? Let us know in the comments!