Musk, Rowling, Trump Tweeted About Her. Now She's Suing

The Algerian boxer who faced global scrutiny over her gender on the path to an Olympic gold medal is suing her bullies. Imane Khelif has filed a criminal complaint in France alleging "aggravated cyber harassment" from Elon Musk, JK Rowling, and others on Musk's social platform X. Though he isn't named in the complaint, former US President Trump "will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution" because he, too, tweeted about Khelif, says the athlete's lawyer, Nabil Boudi, per Variety. Boudi says he's asking the Paris Prosecutor's Office to investigate "whoever it feels necessary," including those who posted hateful messages under pseudonyms.

Khelif received widespread backlash after an Italian opponent quit their Olympic bout after just 46 seconds, claiming she'd never been hit so hard. It was revealed Khelif had been banned from competing at the 2023 World Championships after failing a gender eligibility test administered by the International Boxing Association, which claimed she had XY chromosomes. But the International Olympic Committee pushed back on the test and later stripped the IBA of its status as boxing's governing body. According to the Guardian, Khelif was born female and identifies as such. Yet Rowling called her a "male" in a post shared with more than 14 million followers on X.

The author said a photo of Khelif showed "the smirk of a male [who] knows he's protected by a misogynist sporting establishment enjoying the distress of a woman he's just punched in the head." "My objection ... is to male violence against women becoming an Olympic sport," she added. Musk shared US swimmer Riley Gaines' tweet stating "men don't belong in women's sports," adding the comment, "Absolutely." On Truth Social, meanwhile, Trump shared a clip of Khelif, writing, "I will keep men out of women's sports!" "If the case goes to court, they will stand trial" and might face "prison sentences," Boudi tells Variety. Khelif's coach, Pedro Diaz, says, "I had never seen anything so disgusting," per Variety. Khelif and "everyone around her" was "incredibly affected." (More harassment stories.)