JK Rowling has been sent a chilling death warning “you’re next” after she posted support for Sir Salman Rushdie.
Rushdie, 75, suffered horror injuries as he was knifed up to 15 times in front of a horrified crowd at New York’s Chautauqua Institution.
Now Ms Rowling is working with the police after receiving a potential threat from a Twitter user, The Sun reports.
the Harry Potter author, 57, shared screenshots to Twitter of a message from a user who had written “don’t worry you are next” in response to her tweeting that she felt “very sick” after hearing the news and hoped the novelist would “be OK ”.
Rowling tagged Twitter’s support account in the post and said, “Any chance of some support?”
She later updated her followers on the situation saying, “To all sending supportive messages: thank you. Police are involved (were already involved in other threats).”
Rowling is among the authors and notable faces who have voiced their disbelief after Sir Salman was stabbed on stage in New York state.
The Indian-born British author, 75, whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution when the incident occurred, leaving him with an apparent stab wound to the neck.
He is on a ventilator and may lose an eye and has sustained nerve damage to his arm and liver, according to his agent.
On Friday, New York state police named the suspected attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, who was taken into custody following the incident.
Since the suspect was identified, people on social media have speculated if the attack was in relation to Iran’s former leader Ayatollah Khomeini previously issuing a fatwa calling for his death.
The call was issued following the publication of his book The Satanic Verseswhich has been banned in Iran since 1988 as many Muslims view it as blasphemous.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission
A Brazilian winger with over 250 Premier League appearances to his name could be returning to the English top flight, while Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel revealed his admiration for a top transfer target.
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BRAZILIAN STAR LINKED WITH PL MOVE AFTER MESSY EXIT DUE TO DEATH THREATS
Former Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder Willian quit Corinthians on Saturday (AEST) following the Brazilians’ Copa Libertadores elimination against domestic rivals Flamengo, after claiming he and his family received death threats on social media.
“Willian asked us for his (contract) termination. We are sad not to have him any more and also because it didn’t go the way we expected. But we have to keep those here that are happy,” said club president Duilio Monteiro Alves.
It was only a year ago that the 34-year-old only rejoined the club where he made his professional debut in 2006. Local media have linked him with a move to promoted English Premier League side Fulham.
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The return to Corinthians in Sao Paulo quickly turned sour for Willian both on the pitch where he scored one goal in 45 matches, and off it.
“Whenever Corinthians lost and I didn’t play well, my family received threats and insults on social media. My wife, my children, recently they also started attacking my father, my sister,” Willian told the Globo Esporte website.
“I didn’t play as well as I expected but I was never a player who scored 20 or 30 goals a season,” he told ESPN Brasil on Wednesday.
Willian, who also played for Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine and Russians Anzhi Makhachkala, leaves the club three days after they were eliminated from the Copa Libertadores quarter-finals by Flamengo, 3-0 on aggregate
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TUCHEL ‘VERY, VERY CLOSE’ WITH TOP TRANSFER TARGET
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel said he will always have a “close bond” with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as speculation links the Barcelona forward with a move to Stamford Bridge.
The Blues are looking to reinforce their forward line after the departures of Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner.
Aubameyang, who only joined Barcelona in January, would appear to fit the bill with both Premier League experience from four years at Arsenal and the time he spent under Tuchel at Borussia Dortmund.
The Gabon international scored 79 goals in 95 appearances under Tuchel.
“This is totally separate from anything that is happening now, but I enjoyed a lot working with Auba while I was at Dortmund,” said Tuchel on Friday at his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s visit of Tottenham.
“Some players stay your players because you were very, very close, and Auba is one of those players.
“There was always straight away this close bond. They always stay your players in a way.”
A behind-the-scenes documentary on Arsenal’s 2021/22 season has revealed the scale of disciplinary breaches that saw Mikel Arteta freeze Aubameyang out of the Gunners’ first-team squad.
However, Tuchel said “there was never an issue” with Aubameyang’s discipline during their time in Germany.
Chelsea has been linked with a move for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. (Photo by Pau BARRENA / AFP)Source: AFP
RED DEVILS BOSS QUASHES TALK OF STAR WINGER’S SHOCK EXIT
Erik ten Hag expects Marcus Rashford to remain at Manchester United despite rumors this week that Paris St Germain have made contact with the forward’s representatives.
Rashford’s form dipped dramatically last season as he scored just four goals in 25 Premier League games, which has led to him being dropped from the England squad just months before the World Cup.
The 24-year-old, who has one year left on his contract with a club option for a further year, has twice scored in wins against PSG in the Champions League at the Parc des Princes.
But Ten Hag said he is too important to lose despite his struggle for form, which continued in a 2-1 defeat at home to Brighton in the Dutch coach’s first match in charge last weekend.
“He’s really important,” Ten Hag said. “You have seen from the first day I’m here, I’m really happy with him, I don’t want to lose him.
“He’s definitely in our plans at Manchester United.”
Axed Formula One race director Michael Masi Sunday revealed he was bombarded with “vile” abuse and death threats after his stunning call that cost Lewis Hamilton an eighth world title.
The 44-year-old was removed from the high-profile job over his management of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year and quit the sport’s governing body FIA this month to return home to Australia.
I have told The Daily Telegraph he feared for his life after the sequence of events that led to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen passing Hamilton to deprive the Mercedes star of another crown.
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“There were some dark days,” Masi said in his first substantive interview since.
“And absolutely, I felt like I was the most hated man in the world. I got death threats. People saying, they were going to come after me and my family.
“I still remember walking down the street in London a day or two later. I thought I was OK until I started looking over my shoulder,” he added.
“I was looking at people wondering if they were going to get me.” Masi called in the safety car for the final lap in Abu Dhabi, then controversially allowed the backmarkers between race leader Hamilton and Verstappen to unlap themselves.
That led to a one-lap shoot-out between the Briton and the Dutchman, who with fresh tires on his Red Bull car had a huge advantage which he exploited to pick off Hamilton and seal the title.
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Michael Masi, removed as Formula One race director over his management of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix last year, left The FIA, the sport’s governing body. (Photo by Nhac NGUYEN / AFP)Source: AFP
Mercedes and Red Bull had both put pressure on Masi to make decisions which would have helped their driver, with the former left incensed as they believed he followed their rivals’ suggestions.
They threatened legal action with Hamilton so disillusioned there were fears he would walk away from the sport.
Masi can’t talk about the decision due to non-disclosure agreements with the FIA, the newspaper reported, but he said the following months were hellish.
“I was confronted with hundreds of messages,” he said.
“And they were shocking. Racist, abusive, vile, they called me every name under the sun. And there were death threats.
“And they kept on coming. Not just on my Facebook but also on my LinkedIn, which is supposed to be a professional platform for business. It was the same kind of abuse.”
Michael Masi opened up on the ordeal. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images
The Australian said he tried to ignore them, but they impacted his mental health.
“I didn’t go and talk to a professional. With the benefit of hindsight, I probably should have,” he said, adding that the FIA was aware of the abuse, “but I think I downplayed it all to everyone including them”.
Masi decided to leave the FIA a fortnight ago after three years as Formula 1 race director and safety delegate following his appointment after the sudden passing of Charlie Whiting in 2019.
“It took me a while to process it all,” he said of the Abu Dhabi fallout. “But at the end of the day I thought it was best for me to come back home and be close to my support network.” Since the Abu Dhabi race, the FIA announced measures to ease the pressure on the race director and also altered the mode of communicating with him.
