Author J.K. Rowling falsely accused United States President Donald Trump over the news that the president ignored a disabled boy. Rowling apologized for getting the facts wrong but she refused to apologize to the President.
In a report by The New York Times, the “Harry Potter” series writer accused Trump of intentionally ignoring a three-year-old child with spina bifida. The child, identified as Montgomery Weer, was at the White House last month for an event and per the photos, Trump did talk to the boy.
Rowling’s tweet
Rowling took to Twitter to say that she was stunned with how horrible Trump was for not being able to bring himself “to shake the hand of a small boy who only wanted to touch” him.
After the tweet was posted, she received a number of criticisms from people who support the President.
The author said in another tweet that her mother used a wheelchair and she witnessed how people became uncomfortable being around her. She said that the clip of Trump “looking deliberately over a disabled child’s head” and ignoring the boy’s hand that was seemingly reaching out to the president touched the author “on the raw.”
Boy’s mother reacts to Rowling’s tweets
The mother of the boy, Marjorie Kelly Weer, took to her Facebook account to respond that Rowling misinterpreted the video because it was incomplete. Marjorie said that Trump did not snub her son and Montgomery did not even like shaking hands so he was not trying to shake the President’s hand.
The boy was actually showing off his Secret Service patch.
Per the first part of the video, Trump already shook the boy’s hand before he shook hands with the rest of the people in the room. The video that Rowling saw was the one that showed the President already done shaking hands with everybody and was on his way out of the room.
Rowling tweets apology
According to Washington Post, Rowling deleted her first tweets and comments regarding the video she misunderstood. She then apologized, saying that multiple sources informed her that the video was not full or accurate. The author pointed out that she projected her own sensitivities “around the issue of disabled people being overlooked or ignored.”
She apologized to the boy and his family noting that if she might have caused any distress to them, she apologizes “unreservedly.” She also told her Twitter followers that the latest tweets regarding the issue will remain on her account but the previous ones showing the accusations she made against the President will be deleted.
Trump has not yet commented on this matter.
