Performer Boy George lashed out at author JK Rowling, calling her a “rich, bored bully” over a comment she made on X, and it backfired immediately.
The exchange began with Rowling, who asked a simple question: “Which rights have been taken away from trans people?”
Someone responded to her, referring to her as a Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF) and saying, “The freedom to live without constant persecution, which you and your TERFarmy have taken from them.”
Rowling was not buying that, and replied, “When ‘persecution’ is redefined to mean ‘not being allowed to reorganise society based on unfalsifiable feelings, to compel everyone else’s speech and belief and to take rights away from other protected groups’ you’ll be absolutely right.”
When ‘persecution’ is redefined to mean ‘not being allowed to reorganise society based on unfalsifiable feelings, to compel everyone else’s speech and belief and to take rights away from other protected groups’ you’ll be absolutely right. pic.twitter.com/bONhJRALyb
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 13, 2025
That was when Boy George weighed in, scolding Rowling: “The right to be left alone by a rich bored bully!”
The right to be left alone by a rich bored bully! https://t.co/vTNdexD9Uk
— Boy George (@BoyGeorge) June 14, 2025
The “Harry Potter” author availed herself then of the opportunity to explain her point further, telling the musician, “There are many differences between us, George, but some are particularly relevant to this debate. 1. You’re a man and I’m a woman. 2. You’ve been wealthy and famous since your early 20s. I didn’t become well known until I was well over 30. 3. I’ve never been given 15 months for handcuffing a man to a wall and beating him with a chain. 4. I believe in freedom of speech and belief.”
“For more than half my life I was a regular anonymous person,” Rowling continued. “Some of those years were spent in poverty. That’s why I understand the importance of single-sex spaces for women who’re reliant on state-funded services. That’s why I understand why mixed public changing rooms are a problem for women. That’s why I have a problem with men ‘identifying’ into women’s rape crisis centres, domestic abuse and homeless shelters that are supposed to be single-sex.”
“I don’t stand against gender identity ideology because I personally still need those services, but because my life has taught me exactly how vulnerable women are when they don’t have the money/influence I have now,” she added. “You yourself have been convicted of violent assault. The overwhelming number of people who commit crimes of violence are male, just like you. That’s why I don’t want to see men identifying into women’s prison cells or any of the spaces mentioned above. Not all men are violent or predatory, but enough are to make safeguarding necessary.”
Rowling concluded with a jab at the artist’s public persona – which was always rooted in individuality and freedom of expression — and argued that he was caving to the crowd by taking the position he had on gender ideology.
“Lastly, I’m a writer who believes in freedom of speech and belief. As we both know, the safe, fashionable thing in the arts world right now is to do exactly what you’re doing: parrot TWAW and sneer at the unenlightened plebs who think sex is important and matters. For a man who was once all about non-conformity, George, you couldn’t have become more predictably or more tediously conformist,” she said.
