Simon & Schuster Will Not Publish Book From Cop Involved In Breonna Taylor Shooting After Backlash
After it was announced that a tell-all book penned by one of the Louisville cops who participated in the no-knock raid that resulted in Breonna Taylor's death would be distributed by Simon & Schuster, the company is now speaking out against the report.
The New York Post revealed Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly is penning “The Fight For Truth: The Inside Story Behind the Breonna Taylor Tragedy,” slated to hit bookshelves this fall. After swift online backlash and calls to boycott, the New York based publishing company is now backing out of the deal. The book was to be published by Post Hill Press, a distribution client of S&S.
On Thursday (April 15), Simon & Schuster addressed the claims with a statement on Twitter.
According to CNN, S&S only learned about the upcoming book to be published by Post Hill Press, its “distribution client,” on Thursday (April 15). Post Hill Press' website describes how they specialize in “conservative political books." Their previously published reads include Rep. Matt Gaetz's "Firebrand: Dispatches From The Front Lines of the Maga Revolution." Gaetz is currently being investigated for corruption and suspicion of sex trafficking, according to CNBC.
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Before announcing their decision to withdraw from the book's distribution, Simon & Schuster said in a statement: “The editorial and publishing decision of our distribution clients are theirs and theirs alone, and are made independently of Simon & Schuster. Per our agreements with them we are unable to pick and choose which titles on their list to distribute.”
Days of national protests and public unrest ignited after the grand jury cleared all of the officers of criminal charges in connection with Taylor’s death in September.
Taylor, an aspiring nurse, was sleeping when Mattingly, Det. Myles Cosgrove and then-officer Brett Hankison invaded her home in a botched no-knock raid. She was killed on March 13, 2020. She was shot six times.