Language-teaching app Duolingo has apologised after JK Rowling was described as ‘mean’ in one of its language classes.
The platform has been accused of letting gender ideology ‘infect’ its translation exercises in a German lesson.
‘Do you like books with Harry Potter as a character?’, was one of the questions users had to select the correct response for.
Written in German, the correct answer was: ‘Yes, but in my opinion the author is mean.’
While the wrong response said: ‘Yes, you’re right. I’m interested in sports.’
Journalist Gaby Koppel said she was trying to learn German on the app when she unexpectedly discovered the insult.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), she wrote: ‘Shame on you @duolingo: learning German and I came across the sentence “Yes I like Harry Potter but the author is mean”.
‘How woke do you have to be to let #trans ideology infect a language lesson?’
Language-teaching app Duolingo has apologised after JK Rowling (pictured) was described as ‘mean’ in one of its language classes
Journalist Gaby Koppel said she was trying to learn German on the app when she unexpectedly discovered the insult
She said that the Harry Potter author was the ‘first and only real life person’ that had been ‘picked out for criticism’ in the five months she had used the app
Speaking to The Telegraph, Ms Koppel said: ‘It’s gratuitous – how is Rowling relevant to learning German?’
She added that the Harry Potter author was the ‘first and only real life person’ that had been ‘picked out for criticism’ in the five months she had used the app.
‘Not Putin, not the Ayatollahs, but somebody who happens to take a gender-critical stance,’ she said.
According to company figures, Duolingo has 34.1 million daily active users, making it the most popular language app in the world.
A Duolingo spokesman said: ‘We apologise for any offence caused and will remove this content from the app.’
It comes after JK Rowling backed writer John Boyne and branded his trans critics ‘tinpot tyrants’ after an annual LGBT literary prize was axed due to backlash over his nomination.
Mr Boyne, 54, who is best known for writing The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, made the longlist for the Polari Prize this month for his book Earth.
However, his nomination prompted more than 10 out of the 24 authors who had made the longlist to ask to be removed from the running due to Mr Boyne’s gender-critical beliefs.
It comes after JK Rowling backed writer John Boyne and branded his trans critics ‘tinpot tyrants’ after an annual LGBT literary prize was axed due to backlash over his nomination
On X, JK Rowling replied to an article her fellow under-fire author wrote today about the ordeal
Over 800 writers, editors, publishers and booksellers signed a joint author statement objecting to Mr Boyne’s nomination.
On X, JK Rowling replied to an article her fellow under-fire author wrote today about the ordeal.
Backing Mr Boyne, she said: ‘This makes me both sad and angry. An incredibly talented writer and a thoroughly decent human being (the two are by no means synonymous, as we know) traduced by tinpot tyrants without an ounce of his talent or integrity.’
On Wednesday, Nicola Sturgeon called for JK Rowling to face ‘more scrutiny’ over her stance on trans issues.
JK Rowling penned a scathing review of Nicola Sturgeon’s hotly anticipated memoirs on the day it was officially launched last week.
The billionaire author, who famously wore a t-shirt labelling the former first minister a ‘destroyer of women’s rights’, posted the expletive-riddled assessment of ‘Frankly’ on her website
The women’s right campaigner wrote: ‘She remains stubbornly wedded to her belief that it is possible to let some men into women’s spaces on the men’s say so, without letting any man who fancies it come inside.
‘She denies there are any risks to a policy of gender self-identification. She can’t imagine any male predator capitalising on such policies, in spite of the fact that it has, demonstrably, happened many times.
Ms Rowling wore a T-shirt which branded Ms Sturgeon a ‘destroyer of women’s rights’ in 2022
‘She is flat out Trumpian in her shameless denial of reality and hard facts.’
In an interview with BBC’s Newscast to promote the book, Ms Sturgeon responded by saying the post made her feel ‘more at risk of possible physical harm’.
She told BBC Radio Ulster: ‘JK Rowling is absolutely entitled to her view, maybe putting herself up for a bit more scrutiny about her view would be helpful, but I don’t criticise her for expressing her view.’
JK Rowling has been approached by the Daily Mail for comment.
