This makes Kanye West and Wiz Khalifa‘s beef look like child’s play!
It’s no secret that J.K. Rowling has one of the best Twitter accounts on the planet — not only does she occasionally spill some secrets about Harry Potter to fans, but her penchant for calling out social media meanies for our enjoyment is basically what Twitter was made for!
Related: J.K. Rowling Just Swapped Her Characters’ Genders!
But things got darker than the Deathly Hallows Thursday afternoon when Scottish Parliament member Natalie McGarry accused the author of defending and complementing an abusive and misogynist Twitter troll.
It all started early afternoon when McGarry was venting about the troll in question, and called Jo out for seemingly no reason at all:
.@NatalieMcGarry I’d love an explanation of this accusation, Natalie. pic.twitter.com/Yh6VvLz285
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
@jk_rowling Brian spanner, Joanne. Very simple.
— Natalie McGarry (@NatalieMcGarry) January 28, 2016
Brian Spanner is a Twitter user who has a history of calling out McGarry on social media — and also likes to tell the occasional crude joke.
However, Spanner and Rowling have also shared a few exchanges in the past, which McGarry thought was enough to say she was supporting an “abuser”:
.@NatalieMcGarry Show me where I have defended misogyny and abuse, please.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
@jk_rowling You tweet support of a misogynist abuser. You talk of Twitter abuse and then “(metaphorically) cuddle up to trolls.
— Natalie McGarry (@NatalieMcGarry) January 28, 2016
.@NatalieMcGarry You are a politician making a public accusation. Show me where I have defended abusive, misogynist trolling.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
@jk_rowling it’s quite simple, flee with craws… You tweet supportive tweets of a misogynist Twitter troll.
— Natalie McGarry (@NatalieMcGarry) January 28, 2016
@jk_rowling Do You or don’t you tweet supportive tweets of a misogynist and abusive Twitter troll like BrianSpanner1? Answer is yes. Simple.
— Natalie McGarry (@NatalieMcGarry) January 28, 2016
.@NatalieMcGarry You aren’t some random hater, Natalie. You’re an elected politician and you’ve accused me of supporting abuse and misogyny.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
.@NatalieMcGarry So you need to provide some evidence for that or I’m going to need an apology.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
We’d be getting pretty irritated too right about by now!
But McGarry wasn’t backing down — she thought she’d prove her point by showing the author Spanner’s vulgar comments:
@jk_rowling So, this guy, the one you chat regularly, nice guy. pic.twitter.com/F1PVYK5Pcu
— Natalie McGarry (@NatalieMcGarry) January 28, 2016
.@NatalieMcGarry This screenshot proves that I support and defend misogyny and abuse… how?
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
Nice try, Natalie!
Even a fan tried to get “evidence,” but Jo shut him down too:
@jk_rowling @NatalieMcGarry Your Tweet from 2/10/2015 where you called Brian Spanner “a good man”. Evidence enough?
— Chris (@Caledonian76) January 28, 2016
You mean when I was thanking @BrianSpanner1 for raising money for my children’s charity @lumos? https://t.co/O66fDchsaA
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
Natalie could have backed off after that, but sadly she just kept firing off:
And Joanne Rowling complains about Wings sending trolls her way? My timeline is a school in Internet abuse. Because she interacts w/ trolls.
— Natalie McGarry (@NatalieMcGarry) January 28, 2016
.@NatalieMcGarry Natalie, you need to stop digging. Show me the tweet where I complained anyone sends trolls my way. https://t.co/lgYKHr0v9T
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
.@NatalieMcGarry And you need to provide proof that I support misogynistic abuse or you need to apologise.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
@jk_rowling You tweet support of misogynistic anonymous abusers. That is clear. And I am getting on a plane in five, so over and out.
— Natalie McGarry (@NatalieMcGarry) January 28, 2016
.@NatalieMcGarry OK, Natalie. Guess we’ll have to take this offline.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
And we thought it was finally over… but we were totally wrong!
Probably after talking to her PR rep, Natalie apologized and J.K. called off her minions:
On reflection, I shouldn’t have accused Joanne Rowling of anything based on folk she tweets or retweets, and sends supportive tweets to.
— Natalie McGarry (@NatalieMcGarry) January 28, 2016
Thank you very much, Natalie, and I’d like to ask anyone following me who is being less than polite to you to stop. https://t.co/U1XSkmbNoI
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
Great! Everything’s cool… wrong again!
Natalie then shared a fan-provided screenshot which she thought showed Jo actually engaging with the troll in question:
Joanne, this. pic.twitter.com/P8LXb9xH5e
— Natalie McGarry (@NatalieMcGarry) January 28, 2016
But Jo was quick to point out that the screenshot was edited to make it look like she was engaging with the troll for different reasons:
.@alanferrier .@NatalieMcGarry Alan, you have cut and pasted screenshots, haven’t you? Do my responses follow that tweet or not?
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
.@NatalieMcGarry *sighs* OK, Natalie, that’s cut and pasted to suggest I said ‘good man’ to that tweet, not to fundraising for charity.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
.@NatalieMcGarry Which one is it? Are you presenting a cut and pasted screenshot as false evidence of your original accusation?
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
.@NatalieMcGarry Or are you apologising? And incidentally: aren’t you on a plane right now?
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 28, 2016
Yikes! It looks like Rowling finally backed McGarry into a corner!
What’s the lesson here, Perezcious readers? We think it’s to make sure you NEVER go into a Twitter feud unprepared — especially if you’re facing off against one of the most successful writers on the planet. LOLz!
What do U think of this epic beef?
[Image via Facebook and PNP/WENN.]
