Warner Bros. Discovery condemns threats against J.K. Rowling after she tweeted support for Salman Rushdie

Updated
"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling. (Samir Hussein)
"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling. (Samir Hussein) (Samir Hussein)

Warner Bros. Discovery condemned an apparent threat against "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling in a statement Sunday, saying it supports "freedom of expression."

Rowling shared a screenshot Saturday of a reply to her tweet wishing fellow author Salman Rushdie well after a man stabbed him in the neck at a New York lecture hall Friday. She wrote that she felt "sick" over Rushdie’s being attacked and that she hoped he would recover.

A user responded: "Don't worry you are next."

Rowling said her report of the tweet determined that “no violations” were found, and she shared a screenshot of the message from Twitter. Others shared that they had reported the tweet and that Twitter had substantiated that its community guidelines were violated.

Warner Bros. Discovery, which has the rights to Rowling's "Harry Potter" franchise, said it stands with her and all authors’ rights to express themselves.

"WBD believes in freedom of expression, peaceful discourse and supporting those who offer their views in the public arena," the company said. "Our thoughts are with Sir Salman Rushdie and his family following the senseless act of violence in New York."

It does not appear that the tweet is still online, but the user’s account has responded to Rowling’s public request for Twitter’s support.

The user wrote Sunday that they recovered their account "after heavy reports" and questioned how he or she could threaten her life from Pakistan. The user then wrote that the comment was an "indication" of others who live in the United Kingdom.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.

Rushdie's agent said Sunday that he was off a ventilator and on the "road to recovery" after he was stabbed in the neck Friday morning at the Chautauqua Institution. He has been the subject of threats for decades, after his controversial novel "The Satanic Verses" drew the ire of some Muslims and was banned in Iran.

Police identified the stabbing suspect as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey. A preliminary review of his social media accounts shows he had sympathies for Shia extremism and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation said.

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