Olympic boxer Imane Khelif sues J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk for cyberbullying over gender

J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk are both named in Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif’s cyberbullying complaint over harassment about her gender, filed last week in France, Variety is reporting. And Donald Trump may figure in the investigation as well.

The filing of her criminal complaint was already public knowledge, as was the fact that Rowling and Musk, both noted transphobes, said she didn’t belong in the women’s boxing competition. They claimed that she is transgender, which she is not, nor is she intersex (although, of course, trans and intersex people deserve to participate in sports without discrimination). The new reporting now links Rowling and Musk to her legal action.

The complaint alleges “acts of aggravated cyber harassment” against Khelif, who won the gold medal in the women’s 66-kilogram boxing event last Saturday in Paris. Her attorney, Nabil Boudi, told Variety that Rowling and Musk were mentioned in the complaint. It was filed against “X,” which in France means the parties are unknown. This lets prosecutors investigate a wide range of people, but some are named in the complaint’s text.

“J.K. Rowling and Elon Musk are named in the lawsuit, among others,” Boudi told Variety. Also, he said, “Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution.”

“What we’re asking is that the prosecution investigates not only these people [named in the complaint] but whoever it feels necessary,” he added. “If the case goes to court, they will stand trial.” He did not say who else was named.

Rowling, famous for writing the Harry Potter books, posted a picture August 1 on X, the social media platform owned by Musk, from Khelif’s fight with Italian boxer Angela Carini. “Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better?” Rowling wrote. “The smirk of a male who’s knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered.”

She later wrote, in response to a post defending Khelif, “The idea that those objecting to a male punching a female in the name of sport are objecting because they believe Khelif to be ‘trans’ is a joke. We object because we saw a male punching a female.”

Trump joined in the fray, posting a message that said, “I will keep men out of women’s sports!” Musk tweeted praise for Trump, the former president and current Republican presidential nominee. Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, likewise denounced Khelif in an X post, bizarrely blaming Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee: “This is where Kamala Harris's ideas about gender lead: to a grown man pummeling a woman in a boxing match. This is disgusting, and all of our leaders should condemn it.”

Brothers Jake and Logan Paul, who are popular YouTubers, also called Khelif “a man” and said she should not be competing against women. Logan Paul later took back some of his comments, saying, “Although she’s been previously disqualified for failing a ‘gender test’ and has XY chromosomes, some sources say Imane Khelif was born a biological woman.”

The International Boxing Association barred Khelif from the 2023 World Boxing Championships after she failed a gender eligibility test. “IBA president Umar Kremlev said Khelif was ‘proven’ to have XY chromosomes, which sparked outrage throughout the sports world and beyond,” The Sporting Newsreports. “XY chromosomes indicate that an individual is male. However, certain conditions can allow a woman to present XY chromosomes. It remains unconfirmed which condition Khelif might have, if any at all.”

The IBA also disqualified Lin Yu-Ting of Taiwan based on the gender eligibility test. The International Olympic Committee found both women eligible to compete in the Paris games. They “were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA,” an August 1 statement from the IOC said.

The next day, a spokesperson for the IOC reiterated that Khelif is female. “The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport,” the spokesperson said. “This is not a transgender case. There has been some confusion that somehow it’s a man fighting a woman. This is just not the case, scientifically. On that, there is consensus. Scientifically, this is not a man fighting a woman. I think we need to kind of get that out.”