Natasha Tynes, the female author who went viral for shaming a Black female metro employee for eating on the train, is suing a publishing company for $13 million for allegedly shelving her book after the incident.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Tynes claims she signed a deal with Rare Bird Lit on April 22, 2018 to publish her book, “They Call Me Wyatt.” On March 2, the company announced it would be releasing the book on June 11, 2019. But Tyne’s time to shine was overshadowed by her actions on May 10, 2019, the day she posted a picture of a Black transit employee eating on her train.
She wrote, “When you’re on your morning commute & see @wmata employee in UNIFORM eating on the train … I thought we were not allowed to eat on the train.
This is unacceptable. Hope @wmata responds. When I asked the employee about this, her response was, ‘worry about yourself.’” Following the event, Tynes was met with critics calling her out for her unnecessary act. Tynes deleted the tweet and California Coldblood, an imprint of Rare Bird, announced the next day they were “halting all shipments” of the book and postponing the publication date. Tynes claims Rare Bird defamed her on Twitter that day, calling her actions “truly horrible” and called her behavior “inappropriate” and “unacceptable.”
“Rare Bird is aware that an author distributed by us, Natasha Tynes, and published by an imprint that is sub-distributed by California Coldblood did something truly horrible today in tweeting a picture of a metro worker eating her breakfast on the train this morning and drawing attention to her employer. Black women face a constant barrage of this kind of inappropriate behavior directed toward them and a constant policing of their bodies. We think this is unacceptable and have no desire to be involved with anyone who thinks it’s acceptable to jeopardize a person’s safety and employment in this way,” said the statement.
A few weeks later, Tynes says that Rare Bird canceled all Kindle and print pre-orders of her book. She calls the move active “sabotage” and likens it to “a modern day book burning by a publisher.”
The company ended up completely cutting off the relationship. “Due to contractual obligations, we will be moving forward with the publication of this title” but only through Amazon CreateSpace and Kindle Direct Publishing.” Tynes claims the company benefitted from free press by trashing her name and claims the companies violated their terms of agreement defaming her. She wants $13.4 million in damages.
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