Musk and Rowling named in harassment lawsuit by Algerian boxer Imane Khelif

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and bestselling author J.K. Rowling were accused of harassment in a lawsuit from Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif.

Nabil Boudi, Khelif’s attorney, filed the measure in a Paris court, he told Variety. The suit was filed against X broadly, but figures such as Rowling, Musk, and even former President Donald Trump are named.

“J. K. Rowling and Elon Musk are named in the lawsuit, among others,” Boudi said, saying Trump would be part of the investigation. “Trump tweeted, so whether or not he is named in our lawsuit, he will inevitably be looked into as part of the prosecution.”

Trump did not in fact post on X about the Games — his first post in about a year came on Aug. 12 and was focused on his presidential campaign. His pledge to “keep men out of women’s sports!” alongside a picture of Italian boxer Angela Carini was on his Truth Social page.

Musk shared posts about Khelif, approving of swimmer Riley Gaines’s comment that “men don’t belong in women’s sports.”

Rowling was more direct, saying Khelif was a man who was “enjoying the distress of a woman he’s just punched in the head.”

The lawsuit accuses X of facilitating “acts of aggravated cyber harassment.”

Khelif became the center of controversy after swiftly defeating Carini in 46 seconds. She has a reported diagnosis of differences in sexual development, or DSD, which is an umbrella term for a variety of conditions in which a person can have either XY or XX chromosomes but not the corresponding physical sex characteristics.

Many flocked to Carini’s defense after she complained that Khelif’s inclusion was unfair. Carini later backtracked and apologized.

Khelif was disqualified from the female International Boxing Association championship in 2023 following genetic testing confirming that she each had XY chromosomes but was allowed to fight in the women’s category under the International Olympic Committee’s guidelines of testing testosterone levels.

“The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, has a female passport,” the International Olympic Committee said in a press conference last week.

IOC President Thomas Bach condemned the reaction that followed Carini’s remarks, saying the “hate speech” directed at Khelif was “totally unacceptable.”

Khelif would go on to win the gold medal in her category.