This athlete just shut down JK Rowling with one word

Last week, JK Rowling employed a whole lot of transphobic words to label a visually impaired Paralympics athlete as a “cheat.” Now that athlete has used just one to point out how the author has missed the whole, simple, painfully obvious purpose of the Paralympics: inclusion.

On Monday, 51-year-old Italian sprinter Valentina Petrillo made history as the first publicly out trans athlete to compete in the Paralympics. She competed in both the 200m and 400m races, and although she scored her personal best time in the latter, she did not qualify for the finals in either event.

But Petrillo’s mere inclusion has unsurprisingly drawn attention from transphobic quarters of the internet—which, these days, amounts to JK Rowling. Not long after Petrillo’s history-making race, Rowling took to X/Twitter to baselessly accuse the runner of cheating.

Related

The gays are having a field day with JK Rowling’s latest thread

H*rry P*tter and the tale of the cursed Twitter thread

Entertainment with an edge

Whether you’re into indie comics, groundbreaking music, or queer cinema, we’re here to keep you in the loop twice a week.

​​“Why all the anger about the inspirational Petrillo?” Rowling tweeted. “The cheat community has never had this kind of visibility. Out and proud cheats like Petrillo prove the era of cheat-shaming is over. What a role model. I say we give Lance Armstrong his medals back and move on. #Cheats #NoShame.”

Rowling has made similar attacks on Olympic athletes, most notably targeting Algerian boxer and gold medal winner Imane Khelif. Without evidence, the author spent weeks accusing Khelif of being secretly trans, inciting a social media harassment campaign against her. Khelif responded by naming Rowling in a lawsuit for “acts of aggravated cyber harassment.”

Like Khelif, Petrillo is not letting a bully tarnish her achievement. Speaking to reporters at the Paralympics, she weighed in on the author’s comments.

“I’m flattered that Rowling is talking about me,” Petrillo said. “I’ve never even read Harry Potter. I’m told she wrote it but I didn’t read it. I was told that she wrote about a sport where there is no gender. So, I was expecting different behavior from Rowling.”

Petrillo went on to point out to Rowling—who is neither an athlete nor has a disability—the most obvious fact of the Paralympics, as summed up in a single word. “The most important word in Olympic and Paralympic sports is inclusion. We have to find solutions to include everyone, because everyone needs to feel joy in sports, that’s why we are here. If we want to, we can find a solution.”

“I would like to live in the Paralympic village all my life because I feel protected here,” she added.