Rare Bird Books

In 2019, Rare Bird became the subject of national attention when it cancelled a book by first time novelist Natasha Tynes. Tynes, a writer in Washington, D.C., had tweeted out an image of a uniformed black female Washington Metro employee eating on the train.[5] Social media users criticized Tynes, accusing her of racism, linking the episode to other famous cases of black people reported to the police for everyday actions.[5] Rare Books called Tynes' actions "truly horrible" and cancelled distribution of her novel, telling the author that "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. Black women face a constant barrage of this kind of inappropriate behavior directed toward them and a constant policing of their bodies... We think this is unacceptable and have no desire to be involved with anyone who thinks it’s acceptable to jeopardize a person’s safety and employment in this way.”[6][7] Amidst the controversy, Texas multimedia company Cinestate acquired the book to be the first title launched under their new Rebeller literary imprint, part of a larger lifestyle brand that also encompassed an action movie label and website. The book was released in April 2020, two months before Cinestate shut down amidst a sexual abuse scandal.[8][9]