JK Rowling praises BBC newsreader Martine Croxall for refusing to say ‘pregnant people' live on air

The Sun

4 hours ago

AUTHOR JK Rowling has praised BBC newsreader Martine Croxall after she refused to refer to "pregnant people" live on air.
The Harry Potter writer, 59, joked that she had a "new favourite BBC presenter" after Martine overruled her autocue which referred to "pregnant people" being at risk during the recent hot weather.
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JK Rowling has been a prominent women's rights campaigner and has often been vocal on what she calls "sex-based rights" for several years.
In the clip from a recent BBC News show, Martine introduces comments from new research about the number of heat-related deaths expected during the ongoing hot weather period.
However, as she reads along the autocue, she raises an eyebrow and smirks at the camera after having to say "pregnant people" could be at risk in the heat.
She then quickly overrides this, saying "women" instead, before moving on with the rest of the script.
Martine read: "Malcolm Mistry, who was involved in the research, said the aged, pregnant people - women! - and those with pre-existing health conditions need to take precautions."
Reposting the clip on X, JK Rowling praised the BBC presenter, saying she was her "new favourite".
It is understood that the term "pregnant people" had been written by the researchers and was being quoted, rather than the BBC having written the phrase.
Other commenters also jumped in to praise "brilliant" Martine, with one saying: "I hope you don't get hauled before the BBC News break."
In response, Martine joked: "Braced x".
Martine has been a veteran broadcaster for the BBC, having first joined the company more than 30 years ago in 1991.
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She then began working for the BBC News team in 2001.
This comes just weeks after the same presenter challenged a transgender activist who questioned whether the definition of a woman could be determined by biological sex.
While interviewing ex-Labour MSP candidate Heather Herbert, following the Supreme Court's ruling that the term women referred to one's biological sex, Martine found herself in a heated debate.
JK Rowling in bitter spat with Boy George as singer calls her 'rich bored bully' over trans rights
JK Rowling has blasted Boy George for calling her a 'rich bored bully' – pointing out he once served time for whipping a male escort with a chain.
The Harry Potter author posted a furious response on X after the Culture Club singer waded into a spat with another user who claimed Ms Rowling was 'the person maybe most responsible for the push to take away trans rights'.
When Ms Rowling asked the X user 'which rights have been taken away from trans people?', Boy George responded: 'The right to be left alone by a rich bored bully!'
Ms Rowling posted a lengthy rebuttal in which she accused the Karma Chameleon singer, whose real name is George O'Dowd, of sneering at 'unenlightened plebs' who reject the notion that trans women are women.
She added: 'I've never been given 15 months for handcuffing a man to a wall and beating him with a chain.'
Boy George was jailed in 2009 for handcuffing an escort to his bed and inflicting 'wholly gratuitous violence' at a property in Shoreditch, east London, in April 2007.
The court was told that the cocaine-fuelled attack on Audun Carlsen, a Norwegian man, had been 'premeditated and callous' and had left the victim 'traumatised'.
Boy George had been found guilty at an earlier trial of false imprisonment and beating Carlsen with a chain with the help of another man, whom he had never identified.
Ms Rowling rejected Boy George's claim that she was entitled.
During a conversation on clarifying "what the word woman means", Heather declared she felt like she was "under attack" from Martine's questioning.
The veteran BBC newsreader countered by questioning how it could be an "attack" when all she was asking for was clarification.
She then told Heather that the ruling made it clear "sex is binary and immutable" after the trans activist denied that local authorities - who have not protected single sex spaces based on biological sex - may have to reverse policies as a result of the ruling.
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