J.K. Rowling has launched her latest attack on the BBC over its reporting on the pronouns of Marla-Svenja Liebich, a far-right extremist who identified as a woman last December.
BBC News carried a report about Liebich in which it used she/her pronouns for the criminal, who has received permission to serve a prison sentence in a German women’s jail after being convicted of extreme right incitement to hatred, defamation, and insult.
Liebich changed gender in December under Germany’s Self-Determination Act, despite previously describing transgender people as “parasites on society” and posting a picture of a burning rainbow flag.
Rowling, a staunch critic of the transgender movement, posted a link on X/Twitter to the BBC News story about Liebich, commenting: “The BBC calls a male neo-Nazi ‘she’, because their absolutist belief in gender identity ideology means any man – rapist, voyeur, terrorist, murderer or paedophile – must be described as a woman the moment he says he’s one.”
The BBC has been asked for a response. BBC News’ style guide states: “We generally use the term and pronoun preferred by the person in question, unless there are editorial reasons not to do so.”
Rowling has a partnership with the BBC, through which Brontë Film and TV — the company established to adapt her books — produces the Strike series for the corporation. This has not stopped her from repeatedly attacking the BBC over its “shameful” reporting on transgender matters.
The BBC apologized to Rowling twice in 2023. The Harry Potter author was accused of transphobia by trans rights advocates, but the claim was not properly challenged by BBC presenters, including Radio 4’s Evan Davis.
