The antisemitic book series popularized when the film adaptation was shared by basketballer Kyrie Irving has been removed from Barnes & Noble's online store, The Jerusalem Post found on Monday morning.
Entries in the Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America series were available for purchase on the bookseller's website as recently as November 4. The first book in the series was also found to be number 69 on Barnes & Noble's top 100 bestselling books. However, by at least Monday morning all copies had been removed from the list and store.
Controversial bestseller
The Post previously found that Hebrews to Negroes had been the top bestseller in three different categories on Amazon's website, as well as Amazon Prime Video. On Apple Books, Hebrews to Negroes was number 9 on the list of top audiobooks.
Barnes & Nobles and other online book retailers have been the subject of scrutiny for the sale of the book and audiobook version since Irving shared on social media a link to the documentary adaptation of author Ronald Dalton Jr.'s works. Critics have described Dalton's works as antisemitic.
Activists demand book retailers cease sales
On Friday, over 200 actors and artists from the entertainment industry in an open letter called on Amazon and Barnes & Noble to remove Hebrews to Negroes from their platforms.
The open letter, featuring signatories such as Mila Kunis, Mayim Bialik, and David Draiman, was organized by the NGO Creative Community for Peace.
CCFP was not the only group appealing to sellers of the Hebrews to Negroes series. StopAntisemitism last week told The Post that thousands of its followers sent direct emails to Amazon about the issue. The International Legal Forum wrote a letter to Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos last Sunday.
According to the ILF, the book and film deny the Holocaust, saying it was a fabrication to conceal Jewish power and control.
"It invokes a notorious antisemitic trope used by some Black extremists and supremacists, that so-called 'white Jews' are not the real Jews.'" the ILF wrote to Bezos. "And it also gives voice to and amplifies a host of other common and long-standing antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories about Jewish power, greed and control."
"We always remove titles with antisemitic or other racist content as soon as we become aware of them and are removed in accordance with our Content Policy," Barnes & Noble told the Post. "As you may be aware, titles are pulled automatically from publishers into our online databases and, with new titles numbering in the region of one million each year, close scrutiny of all is impossible. This particular title gained sudden prominence due to it featuring on Amazon’s platform. This prompted a high level of searches - and therefore the online algorithm making the title visible."
The bookseller added that "as soon as we became aware of the content of the books, they were removed from our online listing. We regret the brief visibility of these titles and please be assured we never knowingly list on our website titles of this antisemitic nature."
Irving has since deleted his social media post containing the link and apologized after a suspension from his team, the Brooklyn Nets. By Monday, he had missed 6 games.