Trans activist India Willoughby has reported J.K. Rowling to the police for "deliberately misgendering" her online.
The TV personality told Byline TV that she has reported the Harry Potter author to Northumbria Police for repeatedly calling her a man and describing her as "a man revelling in his misogynistic performance of what he thinks 'woman' means" on X/Twitter earlier this week.
"J.K. Rowling has definitely committed a crime. I'm legally a woman. She knows I'm a woman, and she calls me a man," Willoughby said in the interview. "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."
She 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-dried offence, as far as I'm concerned.
"I am legally recognised as a woman, and for J.K. Rowling to deliberately, and that is the key word, misgender me, knowing who I am, is grossly offensive."
Resharing the video of Willoughby's interview, the 58-year-old writer told her followers that she had consulted her lawyers "some time ago" and they determined that she had "a clearly winnable case" against the newsreader for defamation. She was allegedly also advised that "India's obsessive targeting of me over the past few years may meet the legal threshold for harassment" but she opted not to act upon these recommendations at the time.
"No law compels anyone to pretend to believe that India is a woman," she continued. "Aware as I am that it's an offence 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."
Rowling has been at the centre of controversy for several years due to her views on transgender rights. Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson publicly condemned her comments in 2020.
