The author of D. Natasha Tynes sues after the loss of her book contract on Metro's tweet

Natasha Tynes, an award-winning American writer from Jordan who lost a book contract as a result of claims of online racism, is suing her publishing house for $ 13 million. The lawsuit, filed in California on Friday, alleges that Rare Bird Books violated her contract and defamed her, causing her "extreme emotional distress" and destroying her reputation.

In 2018, Tynes entrusted Rare Bird with the distribution of his next novel, "They Call Me Wyatt," about a murdered Jordanian student whose "conscience" is home to a 3-year-old boy with speech delays. The book, written over four years, was due out this month.

That changed in May, when Tynes became the subject of a national and international report.

On the morning of May 10, the World Bank Communications Officer and her mother of three children tweeted the photo of a Metro black worker who was breaking the rules of the DC transportation agency by taking her child. lunch on a train.

"When you're on your morning commute and you see a UNIFORM employee eating @wmata on the train," tweeted Tynes. "I thought we were not allowed to eat on the train. This is unacceptable. Hope @wmata answers, "she wrote.

At 10 am, less than 30 minutes later, Tynes had removed the post and apologized for "the ephemeral expression of frustration," according to court documents. But the scandal of public outrage and ostracism had already begun.

Tynes made the additional decision to contact the agency to ensure that the employee would not be disciplined (and the complaint states that no action has been taken against the transport worker). in common). She then spoke to Robert Jason Peterson, Rare Bird's executive, and explained that "having not grown up in the United States, the breed's problem had not even occurred to him at the time." when she wrote the tweet.

Peterson said the deposit, reassured the writer and told him that he did not blame her. "You will go through that, we have your back," he told Tynes just before noon.

A few hours later, Rare Bird issued a statement, calling Tynes' tweet – which he describes as monitoring the body of a black woman – "something really horrible".

As the Washington Post had previously reported, in response to the tweet, Rare Bird announced that she had decided not to distribute her book. "We think this is unacceptable and we have no desire to associate with anyone who thinks it is acceptable to compromise the safety and employment of a person," the company said on Twitter.

The next day, the publisher had announced his intention to stop sending the book and postpone the date of publication while taking the "appropriate steps to formally cancel the publication of the book." The pre-orders for the novel were also canceled, while sales had skyrocketed, court documents say.

Rare Bird has not responded to requests for comment on the Tynes lawsuit.

[A D.C. author shamed a Metro worker for eating on the train. Now her book deal is in jeopardy.]

The lawsuit alleges that Rare Bird's statement was defamatory. According to the complaint, Tynes "did not police for the body of a black woman", "did not commit any act of racism" and "took no action that could have possibly compromised the safety of anyone ", except perhaps his own.

After the tweet and the tumult that resulted, Tynes was hospitalized for "an acute anxiety reaction and suicidal ideation," the complaint says. She was put on administrative leave by her employer and the Goodreads Book Review website received a series of negative reviews for the unpublished novel.

Tynes began receiving threats online, according to the lawsuit, and she became the target of offensive language, including being labeled "terrorists," "bombing the plane." "," non-Americans "and" radical Muslims ". deportation.

Court documents also indicated that she was temporarily returned to Jordan on May 21, fearing that her family "would be subjected to violence, retaliation and harassment from a family." crowd induced by Rare Bird if she stayed in the United States ".

"What Rare Bird did to Natasha Tynes is simply abhorrent," said lawyer William Moran, who represents Tynes. "I've never seen a publisher throw an author under the bus like this before."

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