{"id":1973961,"date":"2025-08-22T07:03:26","date_gmt":"2025-08-22T07:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=1973961"},"modified":"2025-08-22T07:03:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T07:03:26","slug":"jk-rowling-called-mean-by-duolingo-as-app-backtracks-celebrity-news-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/jk-rowling-called-mean-by-duolingo-as-app-backtracks-celebrity-news-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"JK Rowling called \u2018mean\u2019 by Duolingo as app backtracks – Celebrity News – Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Language learning app Duolingo has apologized after a German lesson appeared to label Harry Potter author JK Rowling<\/a> as \u201cmean,\u201d sparking debate among users and leading to the removal of the content.<\/p>\n

The lesson in question asked students: \u201cMagst du die B\u00fccher mit Harry Potter<\/a> als Figur?\u201d, which translates to: \u201cDo you like books with Harry Potter as a character?\u201d<\/p>\n

The correct response given by the app: \u201cJa, aber meiner Meinung nach ist die Autorin gemein,\u201d or: \u201cYes, but in my opinion the author is mean.\u201d The wrong alternative answer offered was: \u201cYes, you\u2019re right. I\u2019m interested in sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duolingo, which has more than 130 million daily active users, later issued a statement.<\/a> \u201cWe apologise for any offence caused and will remove this content,” their official Twitter<\/a> account posted.<\/p>\n

The example was first highlighted by Gaby Koppel, a freelance TV producer and writer, who said she had been using the app for five months and had never seen another real-life figure criticised. \u201cIt\u2019s gratuitous \u2013 how is Rowling relevant to learning German?\u201d she told The Daily Telegraph.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Another posted: \u201cShe\u2019s polarizing, but no need to remove facts from lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others backed the company, with one saying: \u201cSpeak ur words @duolingo We are with you!!\u201d<\/p>\n

A Rowling supporter countered: \u201cLet her have an opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The controversy comes as Rowling has once again clashed with politicians and former Harry Potter stars over her stance on transgender rights<\/a>. She recently criticised former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon and her autobiography, Frankly. Rowling posted an image of scribbled notes on Sturgeon\u2019s book, including the phrase: \u201cAre you f—ing kidding me???\u201d<\/p>\n

On Twitter, Rowling wrote: \u201cAnnotating as I read to review. Might auction my scribbled-on copy, proceeds to go to @ForWomenScot. NB: nobody who\u2019s offended by swearing should bid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowling previously wore a shirt calling Sturgeon a \u201cdestroyer of women\u2019s rights\u201d in 2022 when the politician attempted to introduce legislation creating a self-identification system for gender recognition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.the-express.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Language learning app Duolingo has apologized after a German lesson appeared to label Harry Potter author JK Rowling as \u201cmean,\u201d sparking debate among users and leading to the removal of the content. The lesson in question asked students: \u201cMagst du die B\u00fccher mit Harry Potter als Figur?\u201d, which translates to: \u201cDo you like books with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1973962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[352066,310989,312968,22190,352068,352067],"class_list":["post-1973961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-duolingo","tag-harry-potter","tag-jk-rowling","tag-lgbtq","tag-public-apology","tag-transgender-rights"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/JK-Rowling-called-\u2018mean-by-Duolingo-as-app-backtracks.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1973961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1973961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1973961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1973962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1973961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1973961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1973961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}