Salman Rushdie Threatens to Sue Former Bodyguard for Publishing Book
Rushdie says the book portrays him in an incorrect and negative light.
Salman Rushdie is used to being on the receiving end of outrage over his books, but now he's the one outraged at another author's work.
According to AP News, the author of The Satanic Verses is threatening to take legal action against his former bodyguard if he publishes a book that Rushdie says depicts him as arrogant, cheap and unpleasant.
Ron Evans, a former member of the Metropolitan police, served as one of Rushdie's bodyguards while Rushdie lived under 24-hour protection following the Iran-backed death decree issued against him in 1988.
The Guardian newspaper reported that On Her Majesty's Service, a book cowritten by Evans, claims that Rushdie billed the police force for overnight duty at his house and allowed guards to lock him in a cupboard on one occasion while they went to a pub. The book also claims guards nicknamed Rushdie "Scruffy."
"I am not trying to prevent him from publishing this stupid book, but if they publish it there will be consequences and there will be a libel action, Rushdie told the Guardian.
Rushdie's lawyer, Mark Stephens, told the AP that he had written to John Blake Publishing Ltd., the publisher of On Her Majesty's Service, demanding that they withdraw the book and remove "falsehoods" regarding Rushdie and his friends and any details that might compromise his current security.
Calls that the AP made to John Black Publishing went unanswered Saturday.
Rushdie was recently knighted in Britain for his services to literature. His book, The Satanic Verses, sparked outrage in the Muslim community at the time of its publishing and his knighting was met with disapproval from several Islamic nations earlier this year.
