JK Rowling Reported To Police By Former ‘Big Brother’ Contestant Over “Transphobia”; Rowling Says She Has Harassment Claim Against Presenter
07.03.2024 - 14:03
/ deadline.com
A simmering, years-long row between JK Rowling and broadcaster India Willoughby has spilled over into a police complaint against the Harry Potter author over alleged transphobia.
Willoughby, who has appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in the UK and co-hosted shows including Loose Women, said she had reported Rowling to Northumbria Police in recent days.
In an interview with Byline TV, Willoughby claimed she had a “cut and dry” complaint against Rowling, arguing that she had been repeatedly misgendered by the writer.
Willoughby underwent gender reassignment surgery in 2015 and was credited with being the first transgender TV news reporter in the UK, working for ITV Tyne Tees regional news.
In recent days, Rowling has repeatedly declined to use Willoughby’s preferred pronouns and has openly mocked the broadcaster in posts on Twitter, now X.
“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,” Willoughby said. “She can’t argue that anymore now that she’s actually come out and broadly said to me that India Willoughby is a man.”
The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service states that hostility based on transgender identity can be prosecuted as a hate crime. Deadline has contacted Northumbria Police for comment.
Rowling Responds
In a series of posts on X, Rowling hit back, arguing that she had been advised by lawyers that Willoughby’s “obsessive targeting of me over the past few years may meet the legal threshold for harassment.”
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