A trans rights row between JK Rowling and Boy George escalated yesterday as the author mentioned the singer’s conviction for beating a male escort with a chain.
A heated exchange ignited on X after the 63-year-old popstar dubbed the Harry Potter author a ‘rich bored bully’.
In a lengthy takedown, Rowling accused the Culture Club star of sneering at ‘unenlightened plebs’ and quipped: ‘I’ve never been given 15 months for handcuffing a man to a wall and beating him with a chain.’
George, whose real name is George O’Dowd, served four months out of a 15-month jail sentence in 2009 after being found guilty of assault and the false imprisonment of male escort Auden Carlsen.
He later said he was prosecuted on his own evidence after he told the police he handcuffed Carlsen.
The Karma Chameleon hitmaker tearfully apologised in 2017 when he appeared on Piers Morgan‘s Life Stories and described it as a ‘psychotic episode’.
‘I stopped him from leaving my apartment,’ he sighed. ‘It’s terrible what I did, and I’m ashamed and sorry for what I did. It was wrong.’
This morning George hit back at Rowling in another dig by suggesting she was a muggle – a character in the Harry Potter series who lacks any magical ability.
In a lengthy takedown, JK Rowling accused the Culture Club star of sneering at ‘unenlightened plebs’ and quipped: ‘I’ve never been given 15 months for handcuffing a man to a wall and beating him with a chain’
This morning George hit back at Rowling in another dig by suggesting she was a muggle – a character in the Harry Potter series who lacks any magical ability
Conviction: The singer, 63, served four months out of a 15-month jail sentence after being found guilty of assault and the false imprisonment of male escort Auden Carlsen (pictured)
Rowling yesterday pointed out she had spent many years in poverty which is ‘why I understand the importance of single-sex spaces for women’.
‘You yourself have been convicted of violent assault,’ she said. ‘The overwhelming number of people who commit crimes of violence are male, just like you.
‘That’s why I don’t want to see men identifying into women’s prison cells or any of the spaces mentioned above. Not all men are violent or predatory, but enough are to make safeguarding necessary.’
The war of words between Rowing and George started in April and saw the author blast the Culture Club singer after he said that she could not tell the difference between a transgender woman and a biological man.
George has expressed support for transgender people online, in line with other stars such as Tilda Swinton and Pedro Pascal, who recently branded Rowling a ‘heinous loser’ on Instagram.
Responding to a tweet suggesting that Pascal – an outspoken supporter of trans rights – was a misogynist, the singer wrote: ‘Stop this nonsense that if you don’t agree with @jk_rowling you hate women. She hates men. This is where this truth lies.
‘She cannot differentiate between a ‘trans’ woman and a biological male. Which is weird with her imagination?’
But Rowling – who now tweets almost daily about what she has called ‘sex-based rights’ – fired back with an eye-rolling emoji and the retort: ‘I do not hate men.’
The trans rights row between JK Rowling and Boy George escalated yesterday when the author mentioned the Culture Club’s conviction
The Supreme Court ruling on April 17 was brought about following an appeal by For Women Scotland (above). Judges were keen to stress that the ruling was not to be seen as a ‘triumph’
She wrote: ‘I’m married to a man, George. I do not hate men.
‘I simply live in reality where men – however they identify – commit 98 per cent of sexual assaults, and 88 per cent of victims are female.
‘Trans-identified men are no less likely than other kinds of men to pose a risk to women or girls.’
She did not elaborate on how many of those committing sexual assaults were thought to be trans.
She then added: ‘Accusing me of hating men because I don’t think trans women should be given access to all women-only spaces does rather suggest that… you’re well aware that these are, in fact, men.’
Rowling has been vocal on the subject of trans people for several years; in 2018, a spokesperson explained that her ‘like’ of a tweet calling trans women ‘men in dresses’ had been a ‘middle-aged moment’.
And following the Supreme Court judgment on April 17, Rowling has consistently referred to transgender women as being ‘men’.
The ruling, on an appeal brought by campaign group For Women Scotland, concluded that the legal definition of a woman was that of a biological female, when interpreting the Equality Act.
It has led to the Equality and Human Rights Commission overhauling its rules on single-sex spaces – meaning that even trans people with gender recognition certificates (GRC) are still considered to be their biological birth sex.
MPs have pointed out that the judgment will likely lead to discrimination against those who do not appear traditionally male or female.
Dawn Butler, Labour MP for Brent East, told Parliament on last Tuesday: ‘I do not know whether anyone else in the House has butch lesbian friends and has been with them when they have been told to get out of women’s toilets, but I have.
‘It is not pleasant; it is not nice.’
And the ruling likely means that transgender men – who are considered biologically female – will be required to use women’s toilets, even if they appear male and have, for example, a beard.
