Language-learning app Duolingo has apologised to JK Rowling after a lesson described the Harry Potter author as “mean”.
The remark was made during a German lesson on the app and was picked up by TV producer and writer Gaby Koppel.
Duolingo asked the question: “Magst du die Bücher mit Harry Potter als Figur?” (“Do you like books with Harry Potter as a character?”).
The correct response was: “Ja, aber meiner Meinung nach ist die Autorin gemein.” (“Yes, but in my opinion the author is mean.”)
Ms Koppel accused the site of pushing “trans ideology” for offering its opinion on the author based on her gender-critical views.
The TV producer told The Telegraph she had been using the app for around five months and JK Rowling was the first “real-life person” singled out for criticism.
“Not Putin, not the ayatollahs, but somebody who happens to take a gender-critical stance,” she said.
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? @jk_rowling
— Gaby Koppel (@Gabykoppel) August 19, 2025
Duolingo, which has more than 500 million registered users, offers free and paid courses.
A spokesperson for the app said: “We apologise for any offence caused and will remove this content.”
On Monday, Rowling posted on X that she was considering setting up an annual prize to celebrate the most “craven, bootlicking capitulation to the Gender Taliban by a supposedly liberal organisation”.
She described the Polari Prize, which celebrates LGBT literature, as a “strong contender” after it was “paused” over the nomination of a gender-critical author.
The organisers said they had decided to pause the prize this year while they increased the representation of “trans and non-conforming judges”.
In June, Stephen Fry hit out at JK Rowling’s gender-critical stance, saying she had been “radicalised” and called her views on transgender people “cruel and mocking”.
The 66-year-old actor, comedian and broadcaster – who narrated the audiobooks for all seven Harry Potter novels – said he used to be close to Rowling but has been deeply disturbed by her recent comments and online activity.
Speaking on The Show People podcast, Fry said: “She has been radicalised, I fear – perhaps by TERFs, [trans-exclusionary radical feminist] but also by the vitriol that is thrown at her. It is unhelpful and only hardens her. I’m afraid she seems to be a lost cause for us.”
Fry, who is gay and a long-time advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, said Rowling’s stance has left him angry and saddened, particularly her refusal to distance herself from the more extreme rhetoric shared by some of her supporters.
In response, JK Rowling claimed she was never friends with Stephen Fry.
“It is a great mistake to assume that everyone who claims to have been a friend of mine was ever considered a friend by me,” she said.
