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The BBC issued a correction reporting that suggested J.K. Rowling’s remarks about transgender women could get her in trouble with Scotland’s new hate crime law.
BBC Scotland reported that the Hate Crime and Public Order Act 2021 meant that “derogatory comments” about transgender identity would become a criminal offense under the law in an April 2 story about controversy surrounding Rowling.
“The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021, which took effect on Monday, makes it a criminal offence to make derogatory comments based on disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex,” the BBC Scotland online article originally read.
In a correction on the BBC website, the publication said it was “inaccurate” and “should have referred to the Act.”
That line has been replaced and now quotes the act for clarification, stating: “The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 makes it an offence to behave in a threatening or abusive manner with the intention of ‘stirring up hatred’ based on disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex. Stirring up hatred based on race, colour, nationality or ethnicity was already illegal in Great Britain under the Public Order Act 1986 but is now included in the new law.”
“We apologise for any confusion caused and have reminded our teams of the importance of accuracy in our output,” the BBC concluded its online statement.
Rowling has been an outspoken critic of transgender-identifying people who she fiercely believes are infringing on women’s rights and spaces. Most recently, the Harry Potter author gained international attention for criticizing the new Scotland law.
“In passing the Scottish Hate Crime Act, Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls,” she posted to X about the law.
On April 1, Rowling posted a social media thread listing multiple biologically male criminals who claimed to be transgender prior to being sentenced for various horrific crimes and expressed mock relief that their gender identities were being respected.
JK ROWLING SAYS ‘HARRY POTTER’ STARS WHO CRITICIZED HER TRANS VIEWS CAN ‘SAVE THEIR APOLOGIES’
“Only kidding,” she later added. “Obviously, the people mentioned in the above tweets aren’t women at all, but men, every last one of them.”
Rowling also dared Scottish police to arrest her for calling “a man a man.”
Police later said they wouldn’t press charges against Rowling for challenging the hate crime law as her comments “are not being treated as criminal.”
“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,” Rowling said in light of the decision.
Fox News Digital reached out to the BBC for comment, but was directed to the BBC’s public statement.
Kendall Tietz is a Production Assistant with Fox News Digital.
