MP’s apology to JK Rowling over Twitter
AN MP who sparked a Twitter storm with JK Rowling has apologised to t he multimillionaire author.
Natalie McGarry last month used the social media site to allege that Harry Potter creator Miss Rowling defends ‘abusive misogynist trolls’, leading to a warning that she could face legal action.
Miss McGarry, the MP for Glasgow East who resigned the SNP whip last year, locked down her Twitter account as the row escalated, but has now started making public comments on the social media site again.
She had originally posted an image that had been altered to suggest wrongly that Miss Rowling had responded, ‘You’re a good man,’ to an abusive tweet sent by a Twitter user who uses the pseudonym Brian Spanner.
The ‘good man’ tweet had been made after the individual helped to raise money for Miss Rowling’s children’s charity, Lumos, according to the author.
On Wednesday, Miss McGarry posted: ‘Regards a previous discussion with JK Rowling, I apologise for using a screen grab which didn’t give context to the conversation. The particular screen grab from JK Rowling didn’t give the correct context to her relationship with a tweeter, so for that, I apologise.’
Miss Rowling has not taken legal action against Miss McGarry, but her agent wrote to her requesting an apology and a donation to Lumos. The MP added: ‘In the context of my last two tweets, I continue to give and donate to charities and organisations in Glasgow East and abroad.’
A spokesman for Miss Rowling yesterday said the author ‘accepts Natalie McGarry’s apology and is pleased the matter has now been drawn to a close’.
The row began last month when the MP wrote: ‘Wow @jk_rowling vanity searches her name and then defends abusive misogynistic trolls. Extraordinary. Almost makes me regret queuing for books.’ Miss Rowling, who received sexist abuse for opposing Nationalists during the Scottish independence referendum campaign in 2014, responded: ‘I’d love an explanation of this accusation, Natalie.’
After a l engthy r ow, Miss McGarry accused Miss Rowling of ‘bullying her’, then stopped post- ing as she boarded a plane. But the 34-year-old MP, who resigned the SNP whip after it emerged £30,000 was missing from a group she co-founded, later continued her tirade.
This led the author to raise the prospect of legal action. She wrote: ‘You don’t appear to understand how Twitter or defamation works. I’m going to help you out with the latter.’
Yesterday, author Kevin Williamson used Twitter to tell Miss McGarry not to apologise to Miss Rowling.
The author responded: ‘ They see me Rowlin’. They hatin’. This is a pun on rap lyrics from the 2005 song Ridin’ by the artist Chamillionaire.
The US rapper, whose real name is Hakeem Seriki, then wrote on Twitter: ‘I was gonna remix your tweet to “We see them trollin” but you already took home the Grammy. Touche.’
‘Matter has now drawn to a close’