JK Rowling DELETES tweet declaring her love for Stephen King after the author said he believed 'transgender women are women'

JK Rowling has deleted a tweet declaring her love for Stephen King has reached 'new heights' after the US author voiced his support for transgender women.

The Harry Potter author, 54, had shared a quote from the late feminist and author Andrea Dworkin amid a much longer thread concerning recent comments made by Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle. 

The frontbencher claimed the author was 'using her own sexual assault' to justify her controversial views on transgender issues in an article for left-wing magazine Tribune. He has since apologised for the remarks.

Towards the end of a lengthy Twitter thread concerning Russell-Moyle's apology, Rowling shared the quote about how men often 'react to women's words - speaking and writing - as if they were acts of violence.'  

King then shared the quote to his own 5.9 million followers, which led Rowling to tweet that her love for the author had reached 'new heights.'

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JK Rowling (left) has deleted a tweet declaring her love for Stephen King (right) has reached 'new heights' after the US author voiced his support for transgender women

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Taking to Twitter, Rowling said: 'I've always revered Stephen King, but today my love reached - maybe not Annie Wilkes levels - but new heights'

She added: 'I've always revered Stephen King, but today my love reached - maybe not Annie Wilkes levels - but new heights.

'It's so much easier for men to ignore women's concerns, or to belittle them, but I won't ever forget the men who stood up when they didn't need to. Thank you, Stephen.' 

King was then asked for clarification on his views by a fan, who said: 'You should address the TERF tweet. By telling us constant readers if you believe trans women are women.'

He replied: 'Yes. Trans women are women.' 

Following his comment, Rowling deleted her post praising the author. 

The term TERF, which stands for 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist', has been linked to Rowling amid a furious row over transgender issues throughout the past month.   

The Harry Potter author sparked fury in recent weeks when she reacted to an online article titled 'Opinion: Creating a more equal post COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.' 

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King was asked for clarification on his views by a fan, who said: 'You should address the TERF tweet. By telling us constant readers if you believe trans women are women' 

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The Harry Potter author sparked fury in recent weeks when she reacted to an online article titled 'Opinion: Creating a more equal post COVID-19 world for people who menstruate'

''People who menstruate.' I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?', the award-winning writer told her 14.5million followers.  

Stung by criticism, the writer – whose Harry Potter books have sold more than 500 million copies worldwide – sought to justify her decision to speak out in a deeply personal essay.

Recalling how the trauma of 'a serious sexual assault I suffered in my twenties' had informed her thinking about the trans issue and women's rights, Ms Rowling explained: 'Like every other domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor I know, I feel nothing but empathy and solidarity with trans women who've been abused by men.'

Russell-Moyle accused Rowling of promoting 'hate' towards trans people and of exploiting the sexual assault she had endured in an article published last week in the Left-wing Tribune magazine.

'Recently, of course, we saw people like JK Rowling using her own sexual assault as justification for discriminating against a group of people who were not responsible for it,' he wrote. His words brought swift condemnation by women's rights campaigners in the Labour Party.   

Writing on Twitter on Sunday, Russell-Moyle, the MP for Brighton Kemptown, said: 'I want to apologies (sic) unreservedly about the comments in the article that I wrote last week in Tribune regarding Trans rights in which I mention J.K. Rowling. 

'J.K. Rowling's first disclosures of domestic abuse and sexual assault in her recent article on Trans issues were heartfelt and must have been hard to say. 

'Whilst I may disagree with some of her analysis on trans rights, it was wrong of me to suggest that she used her own dreadful experience in anything other than good faith. I have asked Tribune to remove the line in question.'