James Patterson Claims MSNBC and CNN Mostly Ignored His New Book Because Lead Character is a Cop: ‘They Think It’s A Political Thing’
Author James Patterson claimed mainstream media outlets ignored the release of his latest book because the storyline features law enforcement officers.
In a recent interview with fellow author Doug Brunt for his SiriusXM podcast, Dedicated with Doug Brunt Patterson broke down how his latest novel has been a tough sell.
Patterson, has authored over 200 novels since 1976, and his latest title, Walk the Blue Line, is co-authored by Black Hawk Down veteran Matthew Eversmann. The book follows stories of officers putting their life on the line for their community and families.
“What’s been feedback on the book, either from the law enforcement community or the media?” Brunt asked.
“From law enforcement, it’s been great because I think even a lot of, they go, ‘Well, we know the job,’ but certainly they read it and they go, ‘You know what, man, I’m identifying this with so much.’ So the feedback from law officers has been spectacular,” Patterson replied.
“One of the unfortunate things here is… not unexpectedly… I had no trouble getting on Fox, which is great. But I couldn’t get on CNN or MSNBC,” Patterson revealed.
Patterson said eventually he was able to secure an interview to promote the book with CNN’s Jake Tapper, which he praised as “pretty even” and said Tapper understands that “something needs to be balanced.”
Patterson noted that not only was the mainstream media seeming to ignore the new book, but he was also getting negative reviews on the Amazon selling page of his book.
“The publisher noticed on Amazon, most of the views are great, but all of a sudden you see the thing, it’s slipping down to four stars. And what’s happened is, a bunch of people are going on there who haven’t read the book and they just put one star down,” Patterson said, “It just goes to this whole political thing.”
Last year, Patterson made headlines after claiming it was becoming harder for white males to secure jobs in the publishing world.
“Can you get a job? Yes. Is it harder? Yes. It’s even harder for older writers,” he told the Sunday Times. “You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males.”
He later apologized via Facebook, after being criticized for his remarks:
I apologize for saying white male writers having trouble finding work is a form of racism. I absolutely do not believe that racism is practiced against white writers. Please know that I strongly support a diversity of voices being heard—in literature, in Hollywood, everywhere.
Watch above via SiriusXM’s Dedicated with Doug Brunt.
