JK Rowling has sparked another Twitter spat with a Mother’s Day post wishing her followers ‘Happy Birthing Parent Day’.
The Harry Potter author tweeted today: ‘Happy birthday to everyone whose big gametes were fertilized resulting in little people whose genders were assigned by doctors who mostly made lucky guesses.’
The row comes after Rowling was reported to the police earlier this week over allegations she ‘disturbed’ transgender India Willoughby.
Now the sarcastic Mother’s Day post has caused a fresh furore on social media with users accusing the Harry Potter author of inciting division.
Broadcaster Narinder Kaur responded: ‘Of all the ways Rowling could have used her stardom to make a difference in the world, she chose to choose a tiny percentage of an already highly demonized group of people. So sad.’
JK Rowling has sparked another Twitter spat with a Mother’s Day post wishing her followers ‘Happy Birthing Parent Day’
Rowling’s Mother’s Day post on X today
The Harry Potter author posted another tweet after the furore and didn’t back down
Another user Ian Timbrell said: ‘It breaks my heart to see her descend into trolling and unnecessary attacks.
‘She could have wished all mothers a happy Mother’s Day, but instead decided to deliberately cause hurt and pain. History will not look kindly on it.’
A third person added: ‘Happy Mother’s Day to me, a cis woman who has given birth and is not threatened by others who have given birth choosing to identify as a birth parent because it doesn’t affect any part of the pregnancy, birth or motherhood.’
But Rowling didn’t back down, instead posting another tweet saying: ‘Devastated and confused that my embrace of inclusive language has angered the most enthusiastic devotees, so let’s just say: Happy Mother’s Day to all women, who have brought up children.’
The 58-year-old has been particularly active on X in the past week as she sparred with Willoughby.
Willoughby claimed Rowling had called her a ‘man’ in a series of social media posts.
In a thread debating whether trans women should have access to women’s changing rooms, Rowling said: ‘India did not become a woman. India cosplays a misogynistic male fantasy of what a woman is.’
Willoughby, who is Britain’s first trans newsreader, claimed the best-selling author had ‘definitely committed a crime’ under the 2010 Equality Act.
However, Rowling said there was no law forcing her to refer to Willoughby as female.
Speaking to Byline TV, Willoughby said: ‘JK Rowling has certainly committed a crime.
‘I am legally a woman. She knows I’m a woman and she calls me a man. It is a protected property.
“And that is a breach of both the Equality Act and the Gender Recognition Act. She has tweeted it out to 14 million followers.’
Willoughby added: ‘Well I’ve been to the police and I’ve reported it as a problem. I contacted Northumbria Constabulary.
Broadcaster India, 58, has accused JK Rowling of “unkindness” in a series of posts on social media
On 9 March it emerged that the complaint against Rowling had been thrown out and she would not face any police action
‘I have reported JK Rowling to the police for what she said.
‘I don’t know if it will be treated as a hate crime, malicious communication, but it’s a cut-and-dry offense as far as I’m concerned.
‘And at the end of the day it’s a hate crime. Transgender identity is a protected characteristic, as is race, as is sexuality.
‘And it’s like what JK Rowling said, calling a trans person a man on purpose… I’m legally recognized as a woman and JK Rowling knowingly, and that’s the key word, misgendering me knowing who I am , is grossly offensive.
‘It’s a hate crime and it should be dealt with just like someone calling a black person the N-word or an Asian person the P-word.’
But on March 9 it emerged that the complaint against Rowling had been thrown out and she would not face any police action.
A spokesman for Northumbria Police said: “Whilst we recognize the disruption this may have caused, the post was reviewed and did not rise to the criminal line.”