Billionaires Elon Musk and JK Rowling have been personally called out in a criminal complaint filed with French authorities, over claims of harassment against Algerian boxer (and 2024 gold medal winner) Imane Khelif.
The complaint was filed late last week with an offshoot of the Paris prosecutor’s office that combats online hate speech, alleging a “misogynist, racist and sexist campaign” against the boxer amid a widespread argument over her gender. This row flared after the Italian boxer Angela Carini forfeited her match against Khelif on August 1, citing “extreme pain” after Khelif hit her in the face.
Khelif has previously been disqualified by the International Boxing Association (IBA) from the women’s World Championships after allegedly failing to meet gender eligibility criteria. However the IBA – which has already been expelled by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over corruption concerns – failed to produce any proof of its findings, and Khelif was cleared by the IOC to compete in this year’s Games.
Of course, this didn’t stop the likes of Elon Musk and JK Rowling from spouting baseless accusations about Khelif’s gender across X (formerly known as Twitter). In a statement shared by Variety, Khelif’s Paris-based attorney, Nabil Boudi, describes this as “aggravated cyber harassment”.
Khelif’s lawsuit was filed against X – meaning “unknown persons”, not the social media platform. This is to ensure that the scope of the prosecution’s investigation can cover anyone who wrote hateful messages, including those using pseudonyms. Some famous figures such as Musk and Rowling are named, however, and Donald Trump is also in the firing line. “Trump tweeted,” Boudi explains, “so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution.”
Given their track record, you can probably already guess the kinds of talking points that these three high-profile figures boosted across social media. Trump posted a picture from the Khelif vs Carini fight captioned, “I will keep men out of women’s sports!” Rowling, meanwhile, shared a photo of the same fight and accused Khelif of being a man who was “enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head”.
As usual, Musk maintained a slight distance from the discourse by reposting another athlete’s claim that “men don’t belong in women’s sports”, adding one word: “Absolutely.”
Other international personalities who could feel the effects of the lawsuit include Logan Paul, who posted about Khelif following her win over Carini, writing: “This is the purest form of evil unfolding right before our eyes. A man was allowed to beat up a woman on a global stage, crushing her life’s dream while fighting for her deceased father. This delusion must end.” He later deleted the post and admitted that he “might be guilty of spreading misinformation”.
An investigation is underway via the OCLCH (central office for the fight against crimes against humanity and hate crimes) regarding reported instances of cyber harassment due to gender, public insult because of gender, public incitement to discrimination, and public insult because of origin.
Khelif’s coach, Pedro Diaz, has also spoken out against the alleged harassment, telling Variety that the bullying she endured “incredibly affected her” and those who surrounded her. He advised her to stay away from social media to concentrate on winning her gold medal. “The first time she fought in the Olympics, there was this crazy storm outside of the ring,” he adds. “I had never seen anything so disgusting in my life.”
