Literati come out in support of JK Rowling amid onslaught of social media abuse and deaths threats over ‘transphobia’ row

A group of some of Britain’s most prominent literary figures has signed a letter in support of JK Rowling after she received death threats on social media under the hashtag #RIPJKRowling.

A collection of over 50 actors, writers, playwrights, journalists joined together to pen a letter in response to hate speech directed against Rowling. Signatories of the letter include Booker winner Ian McEwan, actor Griff Rhys Jones, actress Frances Barber and playwright Sir Tom Stoppard.

In the letter, which was triggered in response to the hashtag #RIPJKRowling trending at number one on Twitter, they said Rowling is a victim of “an insidious, authoritarian and misogynistic trend in social media.” The letter wrote the hashtag declaring her dead on social media was “just the latest example of hate speech directed against her.”

The Harry Potter author, 55, was subjected to bitter attacks from transgender activists following the publication of her latest novel, Troubled Blood. The novel is published under Rowling’s pseudonym Robert Galbraith and purportedly features a “transvestite serial killer”, which sparked furious backlash online a day before the book’s release on September 15.

Transgender activists rushed to Twitter to declare Rowling “dead”, sending the hashtag #RIPJKRowling trending at number one in the UK.

At the time, Piers Morgan wrote on Twitter: “The fact #RIPJKRowling is trending says all you need to know about the woke brigade – they’re nastier and more viciously intolerant than anyone they preach about.”

The latest abuse directed at Rowling comes after a drawn-out social media campaign against the author following her outspoken views on transgender matters.

The letter written in “solidarity” with Rowling was published in the Sunday Times today and was signed by 58 signatories including fellow authors and other literary figures.

Under the title, We Stand With JK Against Hate, it read: “JK Rowling has been subjected to an onslaught of abuse that highlights an insidious, authoritarian and misogynistic trend in social media.

“Rowling has consistently shown herself to be an honourable and compassionate person, and the appalling hashtag #RIPJKRowling is just the latest example of hate speech directed against her and other women that Twitter and other platforms enable and implicitly endorse.

“We are signing this letter in the hope that, if more people stand up against the targeting of women online, we might at least make it less acceptable to engage in it or profit from it.

“We wish JK Rowling well and stand in solidarity with her.”

Following the controversy, a bookshop in Australia announced it would not be stocking new Rowling or Galbraith books. Newsweek reported a new TikTok trend in which former Harry Potter fans were registering their anger at Rowling’s views on trans people by burning her books.

Despite this, official sales figures from Nielsen BookScan reveal that Troubled Blood has hit the No 1 spot in the UK’s book charts, selling 64,633 copies in the five days to 19 September. According to the Bookseller, this is “by far” the biggest single-week sale for any Galbraith title, almost double the first-week sales of the novel’s predecessor, Lethal White.