A book influencer has been sacked from Waterstones after she said she would “tear up” books by the author Christina Dalcher who holds gender critical beliefs and has previously been critical of gender identity ideology, The Telegraph reports.
Tilly Fitzgerald has developed a 90,000-strong online following for her book reviews and recommendations shared under the name ‘Tilly Loves Books’.
She was sacked by Waterstones after stating in an online post that she would enjoy “tearing up” and binning books by a gender-critical author.
The author, Christina Dalcher, had shown support for a group of women in publishing, known as the SEEN network, who had raised concerns about the spread of gender ideology.
She reposted an article discussing the group, and took issue with those criticising SEEN.
The book influencer wrote in response: “Oh I’ll enjoy tearing up your books and popping them in the bin today. Thanks for the heads up.”
Several hours later, after her comments had been flagged to Waterstones, Tilly posted a tearful video message in which she explained that she was “heartbroken” after being sacked by the bookshop chain.
Speaking to the Independent, Tilly said she was “absolutely devastated” to lose her job, and claimed her sacking was “disproportionate”.
She added: “My initial comments weren’t trying to get anyone cancelled or taken off shop shelves – I was speaking of my choice to throw my own books of theirs away as I didn’t want to personally support them.”
“I acknowledge that my comments were a violation of the social media policy, and I did apologise for any trouble caused, however, I think the punishment was disproportionate and a warning would have been more appropriate.”
Waterstones stated online that it had “received some messages about an employee who has been dismissed.”
The statement added: “This [dismissal] was on the grounds of contravening Waterstones policies and has nothing to do with transgender rights.”
