Elon Musk and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling sued for cyberbullying over boxing girl's gender scandal



Imane Kherif , who won the gold medal in the women's welterweight boxing event at the Paris 2024 Olympics , has filed a criminal complaint against X (formerly Twitter) for slandering her online. The names of J. K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, and businessman Elon Musk are also listed as targets of the complaint.

JK Rowling, Elon Musk Named in Imane Khelif's Cyberbullying Lawsuit
https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/jk-rowling-elon-musk-imane-khelif-lawsuit-1236105185/

JK Rowling and Elon Musk named in Imane Khelif cyberbullying lawsuit | France | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/aug/14/jk-rowling-and-elon-musk-named-in-imane-khelif-cyberbullying-lawsuit



At the Paris Olympics, online slander was a hot topic, and even in Japan, Uta Abe , a representative for the women's 52kg judo team, was subjected to slander on social media , to the point that the Japanese Olympic Committee was forced to issue a statement saying, ' We will consider reporting to the police and taking legal action against excessive content such as insults and threats .'

Imane Kherif, the Algerian representative in the women's 66 kg (welterweight) boxing division, was also one of the athletes who received slander on the Internet during the Paris Olympics. Kherif appeared in the second round of the women's welterweight bout and defeated Angela Carini of Italy, but it became headlines when Carini withdrew from the match 46 seconds into the match and burst into tears.

Olympic Games: Gender-controversial boxer wins, female opponent withdraws in tears after 46 seconds (Kyodo News) | Kumamoto Nichinichi Shimbun
https://kumanichi.com/articles/1502899

In addition, since Kherif was disqualified from the 2023 Women's World Boxing Championships after being found not to meet the eligibility criteria in a gender test conducted by the International Boxing Association (IBA), a large number of people on the Internet have posted opinions that 'Kherif is biologically male'.

Musk wrote, 'Men don't belong in women's sports. Let's make this a trend,' along with a photo of Khelif Khelif claiming that she is not biologically female, and wrote, 'Absolutely not,' and also liked a post saying, 'Donald Trump said he would ban biologically male women from participating in sports.'







Rowling wrote of Kherif: 'Could there be a better image to epitomise the new men's rights movement? A grinning man revelling in the agony of the woman he has just hit over the head, knowing that he is being protected by a sporting establishment that discriminates against women - and thus dashing a woman's lifelong ambitions?'




Rowling added, 'Commentators who criticize the IOC's reliance on documentation rather than gender testing and who suggest that Kherif is transgender are using sophistry. I am not alleging that Kherif is transgender. What I and many others are opposed to is male violence against women becoming an Olympic sport.'




Kherif's lawyer, Nabil Boudi, filed a complaint with the Center for Combating Online Hate at the Paris Prosecutor's Office on Wednesday, August 14, 2024. Kherif claims to have been 'the victim of misogyny, racism and sexism,' and Boudi argued that 'the prosecutor's office will have ample powers to investigate anyone, including those who may have posted anonymous hate messages.'

Bowdy also revealed that the complaint names other celebrities, including J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk, and that Trump 'will be the subject of the investigation, whether or not he is named in our complaint, because he has also posted about this matter.'

Although Boudy filed the lawsuit in France, he said, 'There is a possibility that individuals abroad could be targeted,' and 'If this case goes to court, they will be brought to justice.' Kherif's coach, Pedro Diaz, said the slander she received during the Paris Olympics 'had an incredible impact on her and everyone around her.'



The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has raised objections to the gender test conducted by the IBA. This is due to the fact that Umar Kremlev, a close friend of Russian President Putin, became president of the IBA in 2019, and since then Russia has been in charge of the organization, and the decision was made immediately after Khelif defeated a leading Russian athlete . In response to this situation, the ICO revoked the IBA's accreditation just before the Paris Olympics, citing corruption, lack of financial transparency, and governance issues, and expelled the IBA from the Olympics.

Kherif was born a woman, identifies as a woman, and is neither transgender nor intersex. Therefore, the IOC stated, 'Scientifically speaking, the controversy surrounding Kherif is not a battle between men and women,' emphasizing that Kherif is a woman.

The BBC has summarized why the IBA was stripped of its Olympic status by the IOC and the suspicions surrounding Khelif's gender test.

Paris Olympics: Women's boxing and qualifications: the current debate - BBC News
https://www.bbc.com/japanese/articles/cgl777mk8v1o

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