Shaun King accused of profiting off Chadwick Boseman’s death
An email that King wrote was shared on social media where it went viral.
Shaun King, a prominent Black activist is being accused of profiting off the recent death of Chadwick Boseman by mentioning his name while promoting his book.
On Saturday, King sent an email to his subscribers. The email began by talking about Boseman’s untimely death, but eventually transitioned into King pushing his new book, “Make Change: How to Fight Injustice, Dismantle Systemic Oppression, and Own Our Future.”
“I hope that you are hanging in there. Yesterday I sent an email checking in on everybody — and just a few hours later we learned of the death of Chadwick Boseman. Life is so very fragile. Tomorrow is not promised,” King’s first paragraph read.
“My book, Make Change, is 272 page answer to that question. It’s not an autobiography. I tell my story, of course, but it’s actually a guide to help you through this exact moment that we are in right now,” the email continued.
It was quickly shared on social media where it went viral.
Not Shaun King using Chadwick’s death to sell his book?! What actually does this man offer if not proximity to exploitable black suffering and death? I honestly need someone to explain like I’m a child because it’s been too many years of this now and it’s patently insulting.
— Zoé (@ztsamudzi) August 29, 2020
Users took their feeds to discuss their disdain for the author who has been criticized in the past for profiting off of Black issues.
In response to his backlash, King seemed unfazed by cancel culture.
I’m still here.
#1 trending topic in the country 4 days this past week.
Got cancelled a lot.
I’m literally not leaving, not stopping.
Pushing forward.
Don’t base my worth or value on trends.
My self-esteem doesn’t swing up when I’m popular or down when I’m not.— Shaun King (@shaunking) August 30, 2020
However, King did clarify that his motives were to provide relief to some people’s grievances.
Grieved with my family, and 5 kids, for the past 24 hours over the death of Chadwick Boseman.
This morning when I decided to mention Chadwick in an email, I did it out of compassion for the 250,000+ readers of my close knit online community -not to sell books.— Shaun King (@shaunking) August 30, 2020
READ MORE: Shaun King’s fundraising called into question again in exposé report
According to Newsweek, King tweeted another denial of profiting off Boseman.
“I literally do not make a penny off of sales for my book. Nothing. Got paid a year ago to write it. I had a mass email pre-scheduled to go out this morning about my book. I updated the email to also mention the death of Chadwick. And I don’t regret it. At all. There’s that,” King wrote.
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