J.K. Rowling Hit With Death Threats After Salman Rushdie Stabbing: ‘You Are Next’

Author Salman Rushdie is still recovering from the attack he suffered on Friday, with Deadline reporting The Satanic Verses author is on a ventilator and could lose an eye. He was stabbed in the neck and the liver during the attack, which has no stated motive yet.

In the wake of the attack, J.K. Rowling was pulled into the discussion after sending well wishes to Rushdie on Twitter. “Horrifying news. Feeling very sick right now. Let him be ok,” Rowling wrote at the time. In response, a profile responded saying, “Don’t worry you are next.”

.@TwitterSupport any chance of some support? pic.twitter.com/AoeCzmTKaU

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) August 13, 2022

The person making the threat described themselves as a “student, social activist, political activist and research activist” on the platform with his post still in place despite Rowling reaching out to Twitter support. The person also wrote about their support of the suspect in Rushdie’s stabbing, Hadi Matar, calling him a “revolutionary Shia fighter.”

Rowling confirmed that the police were involved in her situation, informing followers after her plea for Twitter support on Saturday. “To all sending supportive messages: thank you. Police are involved (were already involved on other threats),” Rowling wrote.

Rowling hasn’t been scrutinized for her work in the same manner as Rushdie, despite being labeled Islamophobic in 2014 due to a controversial line in her crime novel The Silkworm. But the Harry Potter author has been under fire for years by the religious community in general over the witchcraft themes and concepts presented in Harry Potter. She has also more recently ruffled feathers online with her stance on the transgender community and the nature of womanhood, something that earned her another label on Twitter when people called her a TERF or trans-exclusionary radical feminist.

Rowling has faced plenty of threats and boycotts, but she has had her share of defenders too, including names like Stephen King and Robbie Coltrane. Rushdie has had plenty of defenders since Friday’s shocking attack, including Rowling. Rushdie has been living in the U.S. since 2000 and once had to go in hiding after Iranian authorities issued a fatwa against him in 1989. There isn’t confirmation that the fatwa is connected to Rushdie’s condition.