The Central Park Five prosecutor Linda Fairstein has been dropped by her book publisher following the release of Ava DuVernay’s “When They See Us” miniseries, her spokesperson confirmed to the AP on Friday.
The former prosecutor began publishing novels in the mid ’90s, several years after she oversaw the wrongful conviction of five teens of color for the rape of a Central Park jogger. She has authored more than 20 best-selling crime novels, and her most recent book, “Blood Oath,” was published in March. Fairstein also won the International Thriller Writers Silver Bullet Award in 2010 and the Nero Wolfe Award for Excellence in Crime Writing in 2008.
More than 125,000 people have signed an online petition at Change.org calling for retailers to stop selling Fairstein’s books, and the hashtag #CancelLindaFairstein has been gaining popularity on Twitter.
Following the renewed outcry against the case spurred by “When They See Us,” Fairstein has received major public backlash. On Wednesday, she resigned from the board of her alma mater Vassar College and the board of Safe Horizon, a nonprofit victim assistance organization.
The prosecutor is portrayed by Felicity Huffman on the Netflix series, and she repeatedly refers to the boys as “animals.” The series, which premiered last week, dramatizes the teens’ wrongful arrest, rape conviction and the consequences that follow.