Aren’t we old enough to play nice?
X owner Elon Musk and Harry Potter series author J.K. Rowling have both been named in a cyberbullying criminal complaint over alleged “aggravated cyber harassment” against Algerian boxer and 2024 Olympic champion Imane Khelif.
Nabil Boudi, the Paris-based attorney of Khelif, confirmed in a statement to Variety that both Musk and Rowling were mentioned in the body of the complaint filed to French authorities, which was posted to the anti-online hatred center of the Paris Prosecutor’s Office on Aug. 9.
“On Aug. 13, The National Center for the Fight Against Online Hatred contacted the OCLCH (Central Office for the Fight Against Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes) to conduct an investigation into the counts of cyber harassment due to gender, public insult because of gender, public incitement to discrimination and public insult because of origin,” the The Paris Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement to Variety.
The lawsuit was filed against “X” which, according to French law, “ensure[s] that the prosecution has all the latitude to be able to investigate all people, including those who may have written hateful messages under pseudonyms,” said Boudi.
Khelif won the Olympic gold medal on Saturday in the women’s 66 kilogram boxing competition, but spent much of the 2024 Olympics in Paris in the epicenter of a controversy about gender eligibility. She received a lot of online hate and accusations throughout the games this summer about her gender identity.
Khelif was born female and doesn’t identify as transgender or intersex. She is backed by the International Olympic Committee who said “scientifically, this is not a man fighting a woman.”
People on X and other social platforms have been ruthless in their accusations that she was a man who was unfairly beating up other women during the 2024 Olympic games in Paris.
Other than Rowling and Musk, other famously controversial figures are a part of the investigation – including former president Donald Trump.
“Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution,” Boudi said.
Most of the attacks came via social media, specifically on X (formerly known as Twitter), and the controversy escalated when these other high-profile figures were mentioned, according to Variety.
In one tweet to her 14.2 million followers, Rowling posted a picture from Khelif’s fight with Italian boxer Angela Carini, accusing the Khelif of being a man who was “enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head.”
Meanwhile, Musk shared a post from swimmer Riley Gaines that said “men don’t belong in women’s sports.” Tesla’s electric vehicle king co-signed the message by writing: “Absolutely.”
Then, Trump posted a message with a picture from the fight with Carina accompanied by the message: “I will keep men out of women’s sports!”
The lawsuit was filed in France, but Boudi adds that it “could target personalities overseas,” too. Musk, Trump, Gaines, and Rowling are all obviously not French, so this lawsuit would most likely follow that rule since it names them specifically.