JK Rowling reacts to ‘pipebomb’ death threat on Twitter

‘When you can’t get a woman sacked, arrested or dropped by her publisher, and cancelling her only made her book sales go up, there’s really only one place to go,’ author comments

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Author JK Rowling has responded after apparently receiving a number of death threats on Twitter.

The writer behind the Harry Potter series, who has received heavy criticism for her views on transgender rights in the past, shared a screenshot of one example on Monday 19 July.

The post read: “I wish you a very nice pipebomb in mailbox.”

Rowling responded: “To be fair, when you can’t get a woman sacked, arrested or dropped by her publisher, and cancelling her only made her book sales go up, there’s really only one place to go.”

The 55-year-old alleged that “hundreds of trans activists” had “threatened to beat, rape, assassinate and bomb” her.

Rowling then said she was going to return to working on a chapter for the latest book in her Strike series, which she writes under the pen name Robert Galbraith.

“To all the people sending me beautiful, kind, funny and supportive messages, thank you so much,” she wrote.

Rowling caused controversy last year after taking issue with a headline about “people who menstruate”. She later argued that discussion of gender identity invalidated biological sex.

In June 2020, she published an open letter in which she defended her comments about the trans community, as well as revealing her experiences of sexual abuse and domestic violence.

In response, many of the stars of the film adaptations of Rowling’s books spoke out in support of trans rights, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.