Children’s news website The Day has apologised to JK Rowling after the Harry Potter author threatened legal action over an article claiming she had ‘harmed’ transgender people.
The newspaper for UK schoolchildren also agreed to make a ‘financial contribution’ to a charity of Rowling’s choice after publishing a story titled ‘Potterheads cancel Rowling after trans tweet’ on June 10.
In the article, The Day referred to the writer’s reaction in a series of tweets to a headline about ‘people who menstruate’ last month.
Children’s news website The Day (Editor-in-Chief Richard Addis, right) has apologised to JK Rowling (left) after the Harry Potter author threatened legal action over an article
The Day’s website, which is aimed towards UK schoolchildren and is used by schools to hand out homework. The website issued an apology to the author on Wednesday
‘”People who menstruate.” I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?’, the award-winning author told her 14.3million followers.
The children’s news site, which schools use to hand out homework, questioned whether Harry Potter should be boycotted, saying ‘some of the greatest artistic achievements’ have been created by ‘deeply unpleasant people’.
It drew comparisons with figures such as Richard Wagner and Pablo Picasso, adding: ‘Since the 1950s, the civil rights movement has used boycotts to take money and status away from people and organisations harming minorities and shame them into change their behaviour. Online it is often called “cancelling”.’
The Day issued an apology to Rowling on Wednesday, writing: ‘We accept that our article implied that what JK Rowling had tweeted was objectionable and that she had attacked and harmed trans people.
The comments below have not been moderated.
By posting your comment you agree to our house rules.
We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook.
You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.
Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd
Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group