Olympic gold medalist boxer Imane Khelif has filed a felony grievance in opposition to Elon Musk and JK Rowling. Khalif’s legal professionals filed a lawsuit in a French court docket, claiming the pair had dedicated “a severe act of on-line harassment” as a result of the billionaire had advised tales concerning the boxer on-line.
The main focus of the lawsuit is broad. “On Aug. 13, the (Nationwide Heart to Fight On-line Hate) contacted OCLCH (Workplace Central to Fight Crimes Towards Humanity and Hate Crimes) to analyze prices of gender-based on-line harassment, gender-based public insults, and disclosure of gender-based Inciting discrimination and public humiliation,” French authorities advised Selection.
Khalif is an Algerian boxer who received gold regardless of dealing with large quantities of on-line harassment. In an early combat, Khalif defeated Italian boxer Angela Carini, who ended the combat early and was in tears. On the time, Carini mentioned she had “by no means been hit so laborious” in her life. After it was revealed {that a} disgraced group had disqualified Khalif from boxing in 2023 resulting from having an “XY chromosome,” dozens of stories retailers and on-line posters uncritically unfold the lie that Khalif was male.
Khalif is a girl. She was assigned this gender at delivery. Rumors that she is a person stemmed from the Kremlin-backed and long-disgraced Worldwide Boxing Affiliation, which disqualified Khalif from boxing tournaments scheduled for 2023. Contestant boxer, no questions requested.
Logan Paul, Elon Musk, Tim Pool and numerous different gullible tweeters repeated this within the hours after Khalif vs. Carini What she mentioned about her. However Rowling’s gender-based messaging on-line was central to her identification, and her lies doubled and tripled within the face of overwhelming proof on the contrary.
“Clarify why you’re okay with males beating girls in public for enjoyable. This isn’t sport,” she mentioned in a publish on X. “From the crimson bully cheaters all the way in which to the organizers who enable this to occur, that is males reveling of their energy over girls. She has posted and retweeted the publish concerning the boxing match 32 occasions because it was first posted on August 1 tweet.
After lies about Khalif unfold the world over, the boxer Carlini who began the entire thing apologized. “That is not what I deliberate to do. I truly wished to apologize to her and everybody else. I used to be offended as a result of my Olympics was in useless,” she mentioned.
Rowling has not apologized for mendacity about Khalif on-line. She has had expertise being compelled to apologize for posts. Earlier this 12 months, “JK Rowling is a Holocaust denier” grew to become a trending matter on X after she questioned Nazi claims in opposition to trans individuals. Within the aftermath, Rowling used her huge sources and Britain’s beneficiant libel legal guidelines to go after those that referred to as her a Holocaust denier.
Journalist Rifka Brown issued a public apology to Rowling. Brown later advised the Ahead that Rowling’s authorized staff compelled her to subject a public apology. She mentioned she didn’t have “the monetary sources to litigate Rowling.”
Nabil Boudi, Khalif’s Paris-based lawyer, advised Selection that an apology wouldn’t change something. “A lawsuit has been filed and the info stay.”
The reality is, Rowling and others unfold lies concerning the Olympic gold medalist’s gender, turning what ought to have been one of many proudest moments of her life right into a nightmare.