*A book distributor has severed ties with author Natasha Tynes after she hit up Twitter to shame a Black, female Metro worker for eating on DC subway.
The D.C.-based author of “They Called Me Wyatt” continues to face backlash for her tweet on Friday, which included a photo of the woman, along with the caption; “When you’re on your morning commute & see @wmata employee in UNIFORM eating on the train,” Tynes wrote in the since deleted post. “I thought we were not allowed to eat on the train. This is unacceptable. Hope @wmata responds.”
Tynes said the woman told her to “worry about herself” when she confronted her over the food.
She failed to follow that advice, and once Black twitter caught wind of her tweet, all hell broke loose and that was enough to put Tynes’ publishing deal at risk.
OTHER NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: Georgia Mayor Won’t Hire Blacks Because Her Lily-white ‘City Isn’t Ready for It’
Update thread on the WMATA worker who was shamed by Natasha Tynes for eating on the train. https://t.co/AtUEnpNBaG
— April (@ReignOfApril) May 12, 2019
Scroll to continue reading
Tynes, a World Bank employee and so-called communications expert, eventually apologized for the tweet, saying she was “truly sorry,” according to The Washington Post. Her Twitter account has since been deleted.
Rare Bird Books, a company that was scheduled to distribute Tynes upcoming novel, shared that they would no longer be working with her.
“In response to the incident, Rare Birds Books, a publishing house that was set to distribute Tynes’s upcoming novel, “They Called Me Wyatt,” has decided not to do so. The book is about a Jordanian student who is murdered and realizes that her “consciousness” has inhabited Wyatt, a 3-year-old boy with speech delays, according to the synopsis.”
Rare Bird denounced Tynes on Twitter, calling her actions “truly horrible” in a statement.
“Black women face a constant barrage of this kind of inappropriate behavior directed toward them and a constant policing of their bodies,” the statement read. “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 this way.”
Rare Bird Books also pressured Tynes’ publisher California Coldblood to reconsider its relationship with her. As Twitter users began to call Tynes out for the tweet, the company announced on Twitter that they have postponed the book’s release.
“We do not condone her actions and hope Natasha learns from this experience that black women feel the effects of systematic racism the most and that we have to be allies, not oppressors,” the publisher wrote.
California Coldblood announced they were halting shipments of the upcoming book and postponing its publication date as they look into additional steps “to officially cancel” it.
Even though the book has not been released, folks have been giving “They Called Me Wyatt” low ratings on Goodreads. As of Sunday, the book had a 1.4 rating. Numerous commenters are citing the controversy as their reason for marking it with a 1-star rating.
A word from us on what happened this morning with Natasha Tynes in DC. pic.twitter.com/gJY4lZLFUQ
— Rare Bird (@rarebirdlit) May 11, 2019
Leave a Reply