J. K. Rowling made headlines earlier this month, being reported to the police for repeatedly misgendering journalist India Willoughby. Photo:TNS
J.K. Rowling is warning social media site Wizarding News that she’s prepared to take legal action if they continue spreading false information about her family.
The Harry Potter author took to X on Wednesday to respond to recent posts from the site, which launched as a Harry Potter news aggregator in 2002 but has since become an ardent critic, “reporting on the demise of J.K. Rowling’s legacy.”
One such post reported the author has an estranged daughter who changed her last name and moved to Portugal to “get away from Rowling.”
The site also allegedly shared images of a baby which they claimed was Rowling’s granddaughter, and included location details of where the child lived.
“This is not a joke. The baby and its mother have no connection with me,” Rowling wrote in response. “That isn’t my daughter. Your vendetta against me is causing collateral damage to innocent people. If legal action is the only way to protect them, I will take it.”
The 58-year-old followed it up with another post, in which she refuted the claims in further detail, concluding, “In the absence of any such retraction and apology, the next communication you receive will be from my lawyer.”
It didn’t take long for Wizarding News to comply. The account on X, which boasts nearly 38,000 followers, issued an apology directed not at the author, but her daughter.
“We are unreservedly sorry... to J.K. Rowling’s eldest daughter... for understandably mixing her up with a VERY coincidentally named person found in multiple published online articles and biographies identifying her as such, and extrapolating and sharing inaccurate details therefrom,” they wrote.
Wizarding News doubled down on their stance however, arguing that what they posted was similar to the negative things Rowling has said about the LGBTQ community.
“We were wrong about some information today, and owned up to it,” they wrote. “Just curious... when’s the last time J.K. Rowling apologized for posting something offensive or outright wrong, and retracted it?"
They added they’ll refocus their reporting on Rowling herself, and less on her family, moving forward.
Rowling made headlines earlier this month, being reported to the police for repeatedly misgendering journalist India Willoughby, and responding to a new hate crime law in Scotland by saying she will not take down old posts that have misgendered others. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
