J. K Rowling said she was working with police after receiving a potential threat from a Twitter user following her reactionary tweet to the attack on Sir Salman Rushdie in New York.
The Harry Potter author, 57, shared screenshots on Twitter of a message from a user who wrote “don’t worry you’re next” in response to her tweet that she felt “very sick” after hearing the news and hopes the novelist will “Be OK”.
Rowling tagged the support Twitter account in the post and said, “Any chance of any support?”
She later updated her followers on the situation, saying: “To everyone sending messages of support: thank you.
“The police are involved (have already been involved in other threats).”
Rowling is among the authors and notables who have expressed their disbelief after Sir Salman was stabbed on stage in New York state.
The Indian-born British author, 75, whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was scheduled to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institute when the incident occurred, leaving him with an apparent stab wound to his neck.
He is on a ventilator and may lose an eye and has suffered nerve damage to his arm and liver, according to the New York Times.
Sir Salman was stabbed on stage in New York state on Friday (Booker Prizes/PA)
On Friday, New York State Police identified the suspected attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, who was taken into custody after the incident.
Since the suspect was identified, people on social media have speculated whether the attack was linked to Iran’s former leader Ayatollah Khomeini, who previously issued a fatwa calling for his death.
The call came after the publication of his book The Satanic Verses, which has been banned in Iran since 1988 because many Muslims consider it blasphemous.
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