A writer who faced social media backlash for calling out a transit worker eating on a train sued her publisher on Friday after it cancelled her book deal over the controversy. Lawyers for Jordanian-American writer Natasha Tynes filed suit against publisher Rare Bird Lit. Inc. She’s seeking $13.4 million in damages.
In May, Ms. Tynes tweeted a picture of a worker eating on a Washington Metro train with the message: “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.”
Scores of Twitter users criticised her for shaming the black worker.
No ban on eating
A transit worker union official said at the time that woman had been taking a break while going from one job to another. The union official also noted that Metro Transit police no longer enforce the ban on eating and drinking on trains. Ms. Tynes later apologised, deleted the tweet and took down her personal website.
But the publishing house condemned her comments and said it was cancelling her book deal. Ms. Tynes “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,” Rare Birds said.
In the lawsuit, Ms. Tynes’s lawyers say the company’s inflammatory statements forced their client to temporarily flee back to Jordan with her family because they endured weeks of online harassment, including death threats and racial slurs.