HARRY Potter author JK Rowling has apologised for spreading a lie about US president Donald Trump, in which she accused him of snubbing a disabled boy.

After copping a fearsome backlash on Twitter over the false accusations, Ms Rowling posted four tweets today apologising to the public for her misinterpretation. She said “sources” had misinformed her, and she had inaccurately represented an interaction between Mr Trump and the boy.

Ms Rowling also posted an apology to the boy and his family, but refrained from apologising to Mr Trump. She deleted her original, misleading tweets.

sensitivities around the issue of disabled people being overlooked or ignored onto the images I saw and if that caused any distress /3 — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) July 31, 2017

Earlier, in a series of furious tweets on the weekend, Ms Rowling called Mr Trump a “monster of narcissism” and claimed he had “pretended not to see” a boy in a wheelchair as he met with “victims of Obamacare” before a press conference on July 24.

“Trump imitated a disabled reporter. Now he pretends not to see a child in a wheelchair, as though frightened he might catch his condition,” Ms Rowling said.

“This monster of narcissism values only himself and his pale reflections. The disabled, minorities, transgender people, the poor, women (unless related to him by ties of blood, and therefore his creations) are treated with contempt, because they do not resemble Trump.

“My mother used a wheelchair. I witnessed people uncomfortable around her disability, but if they had a shred of decency they got over it. So yes, that clip of Trump looking deliberately over a disabled child’s head, ignoring his outstretched hand, has touched me on the raw.

“That man occupies the most powerful office in the free world and his daily outrages against civilised norms are having a corrosive effect. How stunning, and how horrible, that Trump cannot bring himself to shake the hand of a small boy who only wanted to touch the president.”

There was just one problem with Ms Rowling’s heartfelt rant — Mr Trump hadn’t ignored the boy at all.

She seemed to have based her tweetstorm on an edited clip that popped up on social media, appearing to show Mr Trump snubbing the boy, whose name is Monty. But that clip has since been deleted, and an unedited version released by the White House clearly showed the president greeting him.

Despite that fact, Ms Rowling didn’t correct the record for several days, earning her the ire of her fellow Twitter users — foremost among them British morning TV host Piers Morgan.

“JK Rowling’s been back on Twitter but neither deleted, nor apologised for, this disgraceful lie. Her Trump-loathing knows no honesty,” Mr Morgan said.

JK Rowling, in 8 tweets, raged that Trump snubbed a disabled boy.

This is Trump greeting that boy.

Why won't she delete & apologise? pic.twitter.com/c61cqRoBzE — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) July 30, 2017

Very poor of @jk_rowling not to have admitted her error. Trump's many flaws don't justify untruthful attacks https://t.co/eaa1p4Ikr9 — Tim Montgomerie ن (@montie) July 30, 2017

Meanwhile, Monty’s mother posted on Facebook in an attempt to get Ms Rowling to recognise the truth.

“If someone can get a message to JK Rowling: Trump didn’t snub my son and Monty wasn’t even trying to shake his hand,” Majorie Kelly Weer said on Facebook.

“He’s three and hand shaking is not his thing. He was showing off his newly acquired secret service patch.”

The boy's mother is even calling out JK Rowling! pic.twitter.com/6LwLfno4y2 — Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) July 30, 2017

Ms Rowling’s behaviour contrasted poorly with that of Chelsea Clinton, who also accused Mr Trump of snubbing Monty and also suffered a backlash — before realising her mistake and immediately correcting it.