JK Rowling apologises over Trump disabled boy criticism
The Harry Potter author accused the US President of ignoring a disabled boy during a White House visit.
Tuesday 1 August 2017 12:58, UK
JK Rowling has apologised for accusing President Donald Trump of ignoring a disabled child at the White House.
The Harry Potter author accused the US President of a "stunning" and "horrible" reaction when he appeared to avoid shaking the boy's hand in a video.
"How stunning, and how horrible, that Trump cannot bring himself to shake the hand of a small boy who only wanted to touch the president," the author wrote on Twitter.
But Rowling was corrected by the boy's mother, who wrote on Facebook: "If someone can please get a message to JK Rowling: Trump didn't snub my son & Monty wasn't even trying to shake his hand".
The author, a vocal critic of President Trump, "apologised unreservedly" in a series of following Twitter posts.
"Re: my tweets about the small boy in a wheelchair whose proffered hand the president appeared to ignore in press footage," she wrote, deleting her previous post.
"Multiple sources have informed me that that was not a full or accurate representation of their interaction," she added.
"I very clearly projected my own sensitivities around the issue of disabled people being overlooked or ignored onto the images I saw and if that caused any distress to that boy or his family, I apologise unreservedly."
JK Rowling did not apologise to President Trump directly.