(LifeSiteNews) — J.K. Rowling has been on fire lately.
“India Scarlett” Willoughby, a trans-identified man who changed his name from Jonathan and “transitioned” in 2015, is one of the U.K.’s most prominent transgenderism activists. Feted as Britain’s “first transgender television newsreader” and “the first transgender co-host” of the previously all-women ITV talk show Loose Women, he was nominated for a British LGBT Award in 2017. Post “transition,” Willoughby’s heartbroken son refused to speak to him for years.
Willoughby is now perhaps more famous for tangling with Rowling. Speaking to Byline TV, Willoughby announced that he has reported Rowling to the police for “misgendering” him by referring to him as a man rather than a woman. “J.K. Rowling’s definitely committed crime,” he said. “I’m legally a woman. She knows I’m a woman, and she calls me a man. It’s a protected characteristic. And that is a breach of both the Equalities Act and the Gender Recognition Act.”
He went on to complain about her tweets and said that the responses had been “putrid” and “disgusting” and constituted abuse. “It’s a cut and dried offense.”
READ: JK Rowling slams gender ideology after another man caught preying on women by claiming to be ‘trans’
Like nearly everything Willoughby says, this is not the case – Rowling referring to him as a man is not a “hate crime” and will not, under the current legal regime, lead to her arrest. Rowling, for her part, promptly fired back. “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 harassment,” she posted on X.
She then followed up with a list of Willoughby’s own controversial tweets:
I ignored this advice because I couldn’t be bothered giving India the publicity he so clearly craves. Nevertheless, we must all do our bit to combat hate, so India will be glad to know I’ve taken note of his homophobia, racism, and humane stance on immigration. 2/5 pic.twitter.com/ULoYrRGfez
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 6, 2024
She concluded by reiterating the fact that Willoughby is a male: “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 crystal clear: “India did not become a woman. India is cosplaying a misogynistic male fantasy of what a woman is.” Her response has been retweeted over 10,000 times.
Rowling also posted a previous tweet from Willoughby, in which he asked: “How big a van would I need to kidnap Joanna Cherry, Mayo Potato and the witchfinder woman?” As Rowling observed: “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.”
She’s right.
Rowling noted that even the interviewer referred to Willoughby several times as “he.” When the host protested, she shot back: “Journalism for Dummies has a whole page on this. ‘When you f*** up, don’t call witnesses liars, as this may undermine your credibility.’” Perhaps it was a Freudian slip; the host’s groveling responses will give him plausible deniability should law enforcement get involved. Rowling is clearly fed up with the enablers, and is taking no prisoners herself.
As I’ve noted in this space before, Rowling is going all in on the transgender culture war – and because she’s one of the U.K.’s wealthiest people, she can do so without fear of being cancelled or fired. Her advocacy, it must be stated, has been enabled by the world’s second-richest man: if Elon Musk had not purchased X, it would still be a bannable offence to “misgender” trans-identified people.
Rowling has the courage; Musk has given her the platform; millions of people are now exposed to a fierce woman angrily denounce men cosplaying as women and stating in clear English what most of us know: that the emperor has no clothes.
