JK Rowling and Elon Musk have both been named in an online harassment lawsuit filed by Algerian boxer and Olympic gold medalist Iman Khalif.
Variety confirmed to Khelif’s lawyer, Nabil Boudi, that the two men were named in the text of the complaint regarding posts about Khelif on X (formerly Twitter) during the 2024 Paris Olympics. The lawsuit has been filed in Paris against X itself, giving French authorities room to investigate anyone suspected of participating in online harassment against Khelif.
Specifically, according to a statement to publishers, the Paris prosecutor’s office will examine “online harassment based on gender, public insults based on gender, public incitement to discrimination based on gender and public incitement based on origin.” The charge of insult”.
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During the Paris Olympics, Khalif received a flood of hateful and false accusations about her gender online, including from well-known accounts with millions of followers.
Rowling has shared many posts about Khalif on X, some of which have been viewed tens of millions of times. exist an article She called Khalif a “man” and a “bullying liar,” presumably referring to the International Boxing Association’s (IBA) decision to disqualify Khalif from the 2023 world championships after the IBA claimed an unspecified test gave her ” Competitive advantage over other players.” Other female contestants. ”
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At the same time, Musk shared a post American swimmer Riley Gaines read, “Men don’t belong in women’s sports,” and Boss X commented: “Absolutely.”
However, on the same day that Rowling and Musk published their posts, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued its own statement to refute it.
“We have seen misleading information in reports regarding the participation of two female athletes in the 2024 Paris Olympics,” the statement read. “These two athletes have participated in international boxing competitions in the women’s category for many years, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, International Boxing Association (IBA) World Championships and IBA sanctioned championships.
“These two athletes were victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. They were suddenly disqualified without any due process towards the end of the 2023 IBA World Championships.”
Khalif then won the gold medal in the women’s 66kg category. Days later, she filed a complaint.
