As people across the world mourn the unexpected death of actor, Chadwick Boseman, activist Shaun King is under fire for using the late actor’s death to boost his own book sales.
Screenshots of an email that King sent out to subscribers went viral on Twitter after a user posted them. In the email, King mentioned the late actor’s death, before later in the email promoting his new book.
“I hope 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 wrote.
“Over the past 6 years of the Black Lives Matter Movement I have traveled to 47 states – teaching organizing, learning, and leading. And for all 6 years, everywhere I go, people ask me, ‘Shaun, how do I actually use my life, my skills, my time, my energy to impact and change the world?'” he continued. “My book, MAKE CHANGE, is a 272 page answer to that question.”
King later denied accusations that he was using Boseman’s death to promote his book. “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” Shaun wrote.
