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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
James Brinsford

Police drop investigation into 'online threat' made to JK Rowling after Salman Rushdie support

A police investigation into an 'online threat' to JK Rowling has been dropped.

The 57-year-old Harry Potter author had shared support for stabbing victim Sir Salman Rushdie after he was attacked at the Chautauqua Institution.

Rushdie has faced years of threats over his book The Satanic Verses, which has been banned in Iran since 1988 as many Muslims view it as blasphemous.

He was about to deliver a lecture, 65 miles from Buffalo in New York state, when he was stabbed on August 12.

Rowling shared screenshots of a message from a user who wrote “don’t worry you are next” in response to her tweet about Sir Salman last month.

The popular author had said she felt “very sick” after hearing the news and hoped the novelist would “be OK”.

JK Rowling supported Salman Rushdie after he was stabbed (Mike Marsland/WireImage)

The same Twitter account to have messaged the Harry Potter creator also posted messages praising the man who carried out the attack.

The tweet, which came from an account in Pakistan, was later removed.

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “Following a report made to police on Saturday August 13 2022 regarding an online threat, enquiries have been carried out into this matter and it has been established that it was made outwith the UK.

“Enquiries are now complete and there is no further police action at this time.”

Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed as he was about to give a lecture (Getty Images)

This follows Rowling breaking her silence on Twitter after taking a year away from the social media platform following an intense backlash she received surrounding the controversial comments she has made online about the transgender community.

She has also addressed claims she wasn't invited to be included in the Harry Potter movies' 20th anniversary reunion special at the beginning of the year.

The reunion, Return To Hogwarts, was released on January 1, and viewers were left surprised as the special failed to feature the author, apart from the inclusion of a number of clips of old archive footage.

JK Rowling has explained why she was not involved in the Harry Potter reunion (WireImage)

Following rumours that Rowling wasn't asked to be a part of the reunion special, the Harry Potter author has now broken her silence after an entire year, insisting she simply declined the invitation to take part alongside the franchise's biggest stars, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint.

Speaking with Graham Norton on Virgin Radio, the author put the speculation to bed when she insisted: "I was asked to be on that and I decided I didn't want to be a part of it.

"It was about the films not the books, quite rightly. That was what the anniversary was about. So no one said don't [do it]… I was asked to do it and I decided not to."

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