Olympic boxer Imane Khelif sues JK Rowling & Elon Musk for saying she’s a man

Algerian gold medalist boxer Imane Khelif has filed a criminal complaint for “acts of aggravated cyber harassment” against transphobic billionaires Elon Musk and J.K. Rowling after both falsely accused Khelif of being a man while she competed against other women in the 2024 Paris Summer Games. The false accusation led to widespread harassment and threats against Khelif.

Even though Khelif’s complaint was filed in France, it could still result in possible consequences for Musk, Rowling, transphobic Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), former President Donald Trump and others individuals who falsely claimed that Khelif is transgender or “a man” on social media platform X. The legal consequences for these individuals, however, will depend somewhat on the willingness of U.S. authorities to cooperate with the French investigation.

Related:

Transphobes lose it because two sex-variant women are boxing at the Olympics

Neither boxer is transgender, but that hasn’t stopped transphobes from calling them “men.”

Khelif, a cisgender woman, filed the complaint with the Paris Prosecutor’s Office’s National Center for the Fight Against Online Hatred inside last week. The center then instructed France’s Central Office for the Fight Against Crimes Against Humanity and Hate Crimes to conduct an investigation. Its official investigation began August 13, Variety reported.

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The investigation specifically targets the social platform X and all people who falsely claimed that Khelif is trans or male, including people who published under pseudonyms, said Nabil Boudi, Khelif’s attorney.

“J. K. Rowling and Elon Musk are named in the lawsuit, among others,” Boudi told Variety. “Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution. What we’re asking is that the prosecution investigates not only these people but whoever it feels necessary. If the case goes to court, they will stand trial.”

While the investigation and resulting lawsuit “could target personalities overseas,” Boudi added, “The prosecutor’s office for combating online hate speech has the possibility to make requests for mutual legal assistance with other countries.” 

In one message to her 14.2 million followers, Rowling posted an image of Khelif in the ring with an Olympic competitor and wrote,“Could any picture sum up our new men’s rights movement better? The smirk of a male who’s [sic] knows he’s protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head, and whose life’s ambition he’s just shattered.” She also made other social media posts repeatedly referring to Khelif as “a male.” Rowling hasn’t posted anything on social media since August 7.

Musk reposted a claim made by transphobic swimmer Riley Gaines that had an image of Khelif along with the caption “men don’t belong in women’s sports” — Musk replied, “Absolutely.” Rep. Greene published a post calling Khelif a “man pretending to be a woman.” In his post, former President Trump shared in image of Khelif in the ring and wrote, “I will keep men out of women’s sports!”

Trump later repeated these falsehoods at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, saying, “[Khelif] was a good male boxer, yeah, he was a good male boxer.”

Amid the harassment, Khelif begged haters to stop with their false accusations.

“I send a message to all the people of the world to uphold the Olympic principles and the Olympic Charter, to refrain from bullying all athletes, because this has effects, massive effects,” Khelif told SNTV, a sports news service. “It can destroy people; it can kill people’s thoughts, spirit, and mind. It can divide people. And because of that, I ask them to refrain from bullying.”

Why do people think that Olympic boxer Imane Khelif is transgender or a man?

Haters began targeting Khelif after news spread that she had allegedly failed a 2023 gender test administered by the International Boxing Association (IBA), an organization with deep ties to Russia’s anti-LGBTQ+ government. A year later, IBA president Umar Kremlev told a Russian state news agency that Khelif had been found to have “XY chromosomes” and was one of two Olympic boxers who had “pretended to be women” and “tried to deceive their colleagues.”

Khelif previously participated in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo without incident. Her disqualification at the 2023 IBA event came after she won against Azalia Amineva, a rising Russian star, and Khelif’s disqualification meant that Amineva went back to having an undefeated record. The IBA didn’t say anything about Khelif’s chromosomes when she was disqualified, declining to specify what tests led to her disqualification. Kremlev made his statement about Khelif’s chromosomes nearly a year later on social media.

Even if Kremlev’s claims are true, an XY chromosome wouldn’t automatically make Khelif “male” as some women with rare genetic conditions also have XY chromosomes.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) stopped recognizing the IBA as a legitimate governing authority over the sport last year due to a lack of financial transparency, revoking its right to certify Olympic boxers. Kremlev has since accused the IOC of promoting “outright sodomy and the destruction of traditional values,” has called the IOC’s president a “chief sodomite,” and claimed “men with changed gender are allowed to fight with women in boxing at the Olympics.”

An IOC spokesperson has refuted the IBA’s claims and said that Khelif complied with the rules of eligibility to compete, adding, “This is not a transgender issue. I should make this absolutely clear.” Even Khelif’s father showed her birth certificate to Reuters to get people to stop saying she was assigned male at birth.

Nevertheless, right-wingers ran with the IBA’s claims and spread lies during the Olympics.

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