“Harry Potter’ author J.K. Rowling specializes in fiction. And her talent for story-telling also applies to politics.
Perhaps assuming not a single one of her 11 million followers on Twitter would bother to fact check her, she posted a video purporting to show a wheelchair-bound child attempting to touch Trump, who was ignored by The Donald.
It started with the tweet below:
https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/890996376980660226
If you click through on the Tweet above, you’ll notice that the video it highlighted has been deleted (and it’ll soon become clear why), so I’ve included an upload from YouTube of the clip Rowling used below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpWwIw_jX8g
https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/890997400290111489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fdailycaller.com%2F2017%2F07%2F29%2Fjk-rowling-falsely-claims-trump-avoided-wheelchair-bound-boy-video%2F
She also took the opportunity to go off on a moral tirade:
https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/891007607393144835
https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/891008035698749441
That man occupies the most powerful office in the free world and his daily outrages against civilised norms are having a corrosive effect /3
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) July 28, 2017
https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/891010955215347713
Chelsea Clinton even retweeted the claim:
If @piersmorgan is going to call JKRowling out, perhaps he should also call out @ChelseaClinton for spreading lies. pic.twitter.com/gBo0ntywqw
— Sandy 〽️ (@RightGlockMom) July 30, 2017
You may have figured out where this is going based on the fact that the video at the center of Rowling’s tirade has been deleted by the person who originally posted it. It was one big lie. In fact, the footage at the center of Rowling’s tirade was deceptively edited, leaving out the fact that Trump went out of his way to shake the hand of the wheelchair-bound child first! Below is the full, unedited clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVjoSgZaReo
As you’d expect, the rest of Twitter hounded her for the embarrassing (and most likely, purposefully misleading) “mistake,” including even some people over at “very fake news” CNN:
Why hasn't @JK_Rowling corrected her bogus tweets about this? (https://t.co/9kdDSDkEQo) https://t.co/UjF0Pw8n7G
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 30, 2017
So @JK_rowling's been back on Twitter but neither deleted, nor apologised for, this disgraceful lie.
Her Trump-loathing knows no honesty. https://t.co/toQFxfnHqY— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) July 30, 2017
https://twitter.com/arcadiacalls/status/891585747425398784
https://twitter.com/Xiaxue/status/891432233713532928
https://twitter.com/Stephaniehazen/status/891366935534940162
Will she ever apologize? Probably not – it’s fiction that made Rowling famous, after all.
Should Rowling apologize for her mistake? Let us know your thoughts below, and share this story on Facebook and Twitter!
