A book distributor has canceled its distribution deal with one of the Louisville, Kentucky police officers involved in the botched raid that led to the killing of Breonna Taylor last year.
Simon & Schuster announced Thursday evening (April 15) it would no longer distribute the book that officer Jonathan Mattingly is writing and getting published by Tennessee-based company Post Hill Press.
“Like much of the American public, earlier today Simon & Schuster learned of plans by distribution client Post hill Press to publish a book by Jonathan Mattingly,” the distributor said in a statement. “We have subsequently decided not to be involved in the distribution of this book.”
With the book distribution canceled, it’s unclear at this time what that means for the publishing of the book.
The New York Times reported that a spokesperson for Post Hill Press previously defended Mattingly’s book, which is entitled The Fight for Truth: The Inside Story Behind the Breonna Taylor Tragedy, citing freedom of speech for the authors the company works with.
“In the case of Sergeant Mattingly, the mainstream media narrative has been entirely one-sided related to this story and we feel that he deserves to have his account of the tragic events heard publicly, as well,” Post Hill Press spokesperson Kelsey Merritt reportedly said. “Post Hill Press is standing behind our decision to publish his story.”
The Courier-Journal first learned about the book deal and reported on it after Mattingly asked one of its photographers for permission to use a protest photo from May 2020.
News of the book sparked sharp criticism online. Mattingly is the same officer who filed a lawsuit against Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who was with Taylor the night she died.
Of the officers involved in Taylor’s murder, only one got charged, and not for her death, but for the bullets that entered a neighboring apartment.
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