Popular author J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter) threw her wizard hat in the political ring once again on Twitter, musing about how the “white van driver” in the terror attack against Muslims at a mosque in England was “radicalised.”
In a now-deleted tweet, Rowling said, “The Mail has misspelled 'terrorist' as 'white van driver.' Now let's discuss how he was radicalised.” She later apologized for the tweet, saying she was angry about perceived "victim blaming" since the Mail mentioned a radicalized imam had preached at the mosque several times.
However, Rowling was still angry enough to point the finger at British politician, Nigel Farage, as a possible source for rousing anti-Muslim hatred:
And also Katie Hopkins:
Farage responded:
According to The Guardian, the “white van driver” has been identified as 47-year-old Darren Osborne of Cardiff. Osborne was born in Singapore and by all accounts, including that of the estranged mother of his four children, he is an angry drunk who became increasingly vocal with anti-Muslim rhetoric in the days leading to the attack. He reportedly called his Muslim neighbor an “inbred” a few days before but had no prior problems with them. Another neighbor said he saw a man sleeping in a van and smelled alcohol on his breath while trying to wake him. The neighbor said the van matched the description of the one used in the attack later that day.
But leave it to Rowling to stir the pot and try to pin this on far-right radicals. Twitter let her know how they felt about her accusations:


