Google search interest in “jk rowling mold” has skyrocketed since Saturday, when the author changed her picture on X.

J.K. Rowling in London in 2016.Rob Stothard / Getty Images file



What does the Olympics controversy over Algerian boxer Imane Khelif have to do with J.K. Rowling’s home wallpaper?

On the surface, nothing. But on the battlefield of social media and its ongoing conflict over the rights and societal attitude toward transgender people, the two have suddenly become intertwined.

The wallpaper in question — found in the background of a profile picture that the British author used on X until recently — became a focal point for her critics last week after she stoked hate toward Khelif, calling her a “male” and “bullying cheat” in widely viewed posts. Khelif is not transgender, but her chromosomal makeup was called into question by a Russian-led boxing organization as part of a testing process that the International Olympics Committee called “flawed” and “not legitimate.” Khelif was identified as female at birth, was raised as a girl and has always competed as a woman.

Since July 30, more than a dozen posts on X have accrued more than 50 million combined views speculating that Rowling’s profile pic showed black mold on the walls of the multimillionaire’s house. There is no real evidence for such mold.

But the idea was seized on as a way to attack the mental acuity of Rowling, who has become one of the most high-profile people to campaign against acceptance for trans identities, arguing against gender-affirming health care for children and transgender people in same-sex spaces. Rowling’s views appear to extend to Khelif, who she described on X as “a male punching a female.”

“Jk rowling’s profile picture revealing visible black mold that is apparently growing up her walls is probably the greatest chekhov’s gun of all time,” said one X user in a post with over 9 million views, referring to when something introduced early on in a fictional narrative is later proven significant to the plot.

A representative for Rowling declined to comment on her wallpaper and the backlash to her posts about Khelif.

Over the past six years, Rowling has increasingly shared negative views about the transgender rights and acceptance movement on social media, including that it provides cover for sexual predators and is contributing to the erosion of women’s rights. LGBTQ people and groups like GLAAD have condemned Rowling’s views, calling them transphobic, and “Harry Potter” actor Daniel Radcliffe spoke out against her in 2020.

Her large profile — she has 14.2 million followers on X — and her willingness to engage with her critics have made her a favorite target of pro-trans voices, including some who have started to turn to dark humor in an effort to explain the transformation of the once-beloved children’s book author into a leading voice of the anti-trans movement. After decades of “Harry Potter” fame, many of the fans who embraced the series have turned on Rowling, making her a polarizing figure.

Some of the mold posts are more sarcastic than others, but several suggest that Rowling’s posts about Khelif and her general sentiments toward transgender and gender-nonconforming people have something to do with toxic spores. Others compare Rowling and her walls to monsters and zombies in video games, like the spore-infected creatures in “The Last of Us.”

Rowling’s views have been embraced largely by conservatives who have also espoused anti-trans views to stoke their audiences on social media. Some of Rowling’s defenders responded to the mold posts, suggesting that what people online claim is mold is actually  wallpaper.

Like left-leaning attacks on Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance that stemmed from a false parody post on X about Vance’s purported sexual relations with a couch, the mold posts about Rowling are largely tongue-in-cheek jabs alongside real, negative sentiment about how her opinions have altered the political landscape for marginalized groups.

On Saturday, Rowling changed her profile picture to one with a different backdrop, leading to another wave of viral posts about mold on her walls. Google search interest in “jk rowling mold” has also skyrocketed since then, with breakout search queries like “jk rowling black mold meme” in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia.