J.K. Rowling has received an apology from a Scottish MP after she was accused of “bullying” and “defend[ing] abusive misogynistic trolls” in the wake of a heated argument on Twitter.

The online spat between the ‘Harry Potter’ author and Natalie McGarry, the Scottish National Party member of parliament for Glasgow East, started when Rowling publicly tweeted a message of thanks to an account under the name of ‘Brian Spanner’ for raising money for her children’s charity Lumos.

This account had previously been connected with anti-Scottish nationalist comments and offensive remarks. McGarry believed that tweeting such a message was hypocritical, as Rowling has complained about sexist trolling in the past.

JK RowlingJ.K. Rowling was accused of defending misogyny by a Scottish MP

“You tweet support of a misogynist abuser. You talk of Twitter abuse and then “(metaphorically) cuddle up to trolls,” McGarry wrote on Thursday (January 29th).

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Rowling then replied “you aren’t some random hater Natalie. You're an elected politician and you've accused me of supporting abuse and misogyny.”

McGarry, whose tweets are protected, then accused the author of bullying, as Rowling continued to insist upon evidence. “J.K. Rowling tweets supportive tweets of a known Twitter troll and misogynist. I say so, so she brings the twitter anti down upon. Bullying?”

“And Joanne Rowling complains about Wings sending trolls her way? My timeline is a school in Internet abuse. Because she interacts w/ trolls.” Ms Rowling stood her ground and said: “You are a politician making a public accusation. Show me where I have defended abusive, misogynist trolling. You need to provide some evidence for that or I'm going to need an apology.”

Having seen the comments coming out overwhelmingly in favour of Rowling, the MP then backed down later that evening, writing: “On reflection, I do apologise for any misguided inference that you support misogyny or abuse instead of the folk you tweet.”

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