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J.K. Rowling apologizes "unreservedly" for tweet on Trump

LONDON -- J.K. Rowling has apologized for tweets alleging that U.S. President Donald Trump refused to shake the hand of a disabled boy.

The "Harry Potter" author called Mr. Trump "horrible" after seeing footage of the president appearing to ignore the child's outstretched hand during a White House event last week.

But the boy's mother, Marjorie Kelly Weer, posted on Facebook: "Trump didn't snub my son & Monty wasn't even trying to shake his hand."

Rowling, who has often criticized Mr. Trump, said she "apologized unreservedly" to the boy's family for any offense she might have caused. She tweeted Monday that "I very clearly projected my own sensitivities around the issue of disabled people being overlooked or ignored onto the images I saw."

The author acknowledged deleting her original tweets on the subject, but said the four consecutive ones sent Monday, apologizing to the boy's family, would remain on her account.

Rowling once took to Twitter to declare Mr. Trump worse than the Potter villain Voldemort. "How horrible," she said when people compared the two. "Voldemort was nowhere near as bad."

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