Social media is a gift for malign people, says JK after death threat by Twitter troll
J.K. ROWLING has described social media as ‘a gift for people who want to behave in a malign way’.
The Harry Potter author’s comments came two weeks after she received a death threat for posting comments of support for Sir Salman Rushdie.
She has also been repeatedly targeted by trolls after making critical comments about the transgender lobby. Her home address was posted online last year by protesters, who stood outside with pro-trans placards.
Speaking to Graham Norton on his Virgin Radio show yesterday, the 57-year-old said: ‘Social media can be a lot of fun and I do like the pub argument aspect of it.
‘That can be a fun thing to do. But there’s no doubt that social media is a gift for people who want to behave in a malign way.’
Miss Rowling also spoke about whether there was anything she could do reduce the intensity of online conflict, saying: ‘I think on one level I’m not sure I can.
‘I’m not sure any individual can. I try to behave online as I would like others to behave. I wouldn’t ever want to... I’ve never threatened
anyone, obviously, and I certainly wouldn’t want anyone to go to their houses or anything like that.’
But she insisted her latest book, The Ink Black Heart, the latest in her series of novels written under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith, about a cartoonist trolled online by a fan, has nothing to do with the threats she has faced in real life.
Asked if the story had echoes of her own experiences online, she said: ‘More echoes than I realised because I should make it really clear after some of the things that have happened to me online in the last year, I had written the book before certain things happened to me online. I said to my husband, “Everyone is going to see this as a response to what happened to me.” But it genuinely wasn’t. The first draft of the book was finished at the point where certain things happened to me.’
The death threat against her this month came after she tweeted in response to the knife attack on Sir Salman: ‘Feeling very sick right now. Let him be OK.’ Another Twitter user replied: ‘Don’t worry you are next.’
Her views on transgender issues have been criticised by Potter stars including Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson. But she dismissed claims that she had been excluded from the Potter reunion, Return To Hogwarts, marking the 20th anniversary of the release of the first film in the series, Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone.
Miss Rowling added that she was in touch with some of the Potter cast, saying: ‘Some more than others but that was always the case. Some I knew better than others.’
‘When I am online I try to behave as I would like others to behave’