McCoist criticised after Hate Crime Act breach ‘guarantee’
‘JK Rowling should be running the country’ claim
ALLY McCoist has been heavily criticised after he said he “guaranteed” that he would breach the Hate Crime Act at this weekend’s Scottish Premiership game between Celtic and Rangers.
Passed in March 2021, the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act has brought in new offences of “stirring up” hatred against protected characteristics including race, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, and transgender identity.
It has proven controversial, with around 300 people attending a protest outside Holyrood on Monday, and Harry Potter writer JK Rowling challenging police to arrest her.
Speaking on TalkSport, former Rangers star McCoist said he backed Rowling. He told host Jeff Stelling: “JK Rowling, more strength for calling a man a man and a woman a woman, more strength to that woman.
“She should be running the country! The campaign starts right now for JK Rowling to start the country.
“We’ve got a hate bill, by the way, a hate bill has been passed in the country yesterday, and I can guarantee you, next Sunday at Ibrox, I along with 48,000 will be committing a breach of that hate bill in the particular Rangers vs Celtic game that we are all going to.”
Stelling suggested that the act would be impossible to enforce, and McCoist responded: “That’s exactly what the police think about it. The police spokesperson has come out and more and less said that.
“He has implied that everybody that’s got two brain cells in their head knows it’s absolute madness.”
But SNP MP Steven Bonnar told the Daily Record: “McCoist seems to have let his cheeky chappy mask slip here. Perhaps he can enlighten us on which protected group it is he intends to target at the upcoming derby?
“On a day when everyone connected to the game in Scotland should be working to ensure the focus is firmly on what happens on the park, his comments are completely offside.”
And Mhairi Hunter, a former SNP councillor, said: “I’d like someone to ask him [McCoist] specifically what crime he thinks he is likely to commit. Threatening and abusive behaviour? Vandalism? Assault? These are the main types of hate crimes.”
Meanwhile, Police Scotland has said it is not taking any further action after receiving complaints about a JK Rowling X/Twitter post.
The author said on Monday she was “looking forward to being arrested” when she returns to Scotland, in a response to the new act.
She has been one of the highest profile critics of the legislation, and said it is “wide open to abuse” in an April Fool’s “joke” post.
However, a Police Scotland spokesperson has said: “We have received complaints in relation to the social media post. The comments are not assessed to be criminal and no further action will be taken.”
In response, the author posted on X/Twitter: “I hope every woman in Scotland who wishes to speak up for the reality and importance of biological sex will be reassured by this announcement, and I trust that all women – irrespective of profile or financial means – will be treated equally under the law.”
The new act consolidates existing hate crime legislation and creates a new offence of stirring up hatred against protected characteristics.
However, women have not been given protection under the law, with the Scottish Government instead promising to bring forward separate legislation to tackle misogyny.
But with the new act giving protection to transgender people, Rowling, who does not believe people can change their gender, insisted: “Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal.”
In the X/Twitter post, the writer argued: “It is impossible to accurately describe or tackle the reality of violence and sexual violence committed against women and girls, or address the current assault on women’s and girls’ rights, unless we are allowed to call a man a man.”
She said the new legislation “is wide open to abuse by activists who wish to silence those of us speaking out about the dangers of eliminating women’s and girls’ single-sex spaces”.
She added in her Monday post: “I’m currently out of the country, but if what I’ve written here qualifies as an offence under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment.”
However, First Minister Humza Yousaf has declared that he is “very proud” of the new laws, saying they will help protect against a “rising tide” of hatred.