A UK national newspaper has issued an apology after wrongly saying that JK Rowling had “engaged in Holocaust denial”.
The Metro – a daily newspaper which is distributed for free across the UK – published a correction after the accusation against the author appeared in an article on Nicholas Hoult’s casting in the HBO Harry Potter adaptation.
Hoult had been cast as Professor Gilderoy Lockhart, a character in the second Harry Potter book, but stepped back after a fan backlash focused on Rowling’s gender-critical views. She has previously said that there “are no trans kids” and campaigned against the inclusion of trans women in single-sex spaces.
“Nicholas Hoult do better, so many of your fans are hurt,” one of the actor’s fan accounts wrote on social media.
Hoult was then replaced by former Game of Thrones star Kit Harington. HBO cited scheduling conflicts.
In a report on Hoult's replacement, the Metro said that Rowling had “misgendered people (including boxer Imane Khelif), engaged in Holocaust denial, and previously claimed that trans youth education was ‘more harmful than lobotomies’”.
The paragraph has since been updated, and the Metro said in a statement that it had “wrongly stated that JK Rowling had been ‘engaged in Holocaust denial'".
It went on: “This follows claims in March 2024 when Ms Rowling was accused on X of denying aspects of the Holocaust, an allegation which she strenuously denied. The allegation has been removed and Metro apologises for the error.”
In 2024, Rowling had posted an image on social media showing a tweet aimed at her with five views. It read: “The Nazis burnt books on trans healthcare and research, why are you so desperate to uphold their ideology around gender?”
I just… how? How did you type this out and press send without thinking ‘I should maybe check my source for this, because it might’ve been a fever dream’? pic.twitter.com/fl9QLuFytc
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) March 13, 2024
Rowling wrote: “I just… how? How did you type this out and press send without thinking ‘I should maybe check my source for this, because it might’ve been a fever dream’?”
In 1933, the Nazis looted Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin and burned books and archives that included research relating to transgender people.
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of Holocaust denial states that it is “discourse and propaganda that deny the historical reality and the extent of the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis and their accomplices during World War II”.
Previously, responding to allegations that she had denied Nazi crimes, Rowling said: "While I’m used to the gross distraction techniques used by the more extreme faction of trans activism, the claim that I am a Holocaust denier is baseless and disgusting. As can be easily seen from my own Twitter account, I have always been a staunch supporter of the Jewish community and have spoken out consistently and repeatedly against antisemitism.
"I’m familiar with such activists’ assertions that transgender people have been uniquely persecuted and oppressed throughout history, but claims that trans people were ‘the first targets’ of the Nazis – a claim I refuted on X, and which led to these accusations – and that I ‘uphold [Nazi] ideology around gender’ is a new low.”
The author’s views on trans rights have seen other actors in the Harry Potter HBO series distance themselves from her, including Paapa Essiedu, who plays Professor Snape, Bel Powley, who plays Aunt Petunia, and John Lithgow, who will play Albus Dumbledore.
