Natasha Tynes, an award-winning Jordanian American author, sued her publisher for $13 million on Friday after it cancelled a book deal following claims of online racism, AP reported.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles in California, alleged that Rare Bird Books breached its contract and defamed Tynes, causing “extreme emotional distress” and destroying her reputation, reported The Washington Post.

In May, Tynes had tweeted a photo of a female Metro worker eating on a Washington Metro train. “When you’re on your morning commute [and] see Washington Metro employee in UNIFORM eating on the train I thought we were not allowed to eat on the train,” she had tweeted. “This is unacceptable. Hope Washington Metro responds.”

Twitter users criticised Tynes for shaming a Black woman despite being a minority writer. Tynes later apologised and deleted her tweet.

Tynes also got in touch with the Washington Metro to ensure the employee would not be disciplined. She then spoke to Rare Bird executive Robert Jason Peterson and explained that “having not grown up in the United States, the issue of race had not even occurred to her when she made the tweet”.

The publishing house, however, condemned her comments and said it was cancelling her book deal, The Washington Post reported. Tynes “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”, Rare Birds said in a statement. “Black women face a constant barrage of this kind of inappropriate behaviour directed toward them and a constant policing of their bodies.”

Last month, Rare Bird said it would no longer distribute Tynes’ forthcoming novel They Called Me Wyatt which was set to be published on Rare Bird imprint California Coldblood Books.

In the lawsuit, Tynes’ lawyers said the company’s inflammatory statements forced her to temporarily flee to Jordan with her family following weeks of online harassment, including death threats and racial slurs.