Black Writer Who Landed $2M Book Deal for His Debut Novel Says It’s Racist He Was Dropped Over Allegations He Used AI

A black author has broken his silence after allegations he used AI to write his debut novel derailed his $2million publishing deal – saying that the accusations are racist.

Jerry Falade, a graduate student at Southern Methodist University, posted a series of messages to Instagram after he was accused of using AI to write his first book, Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body, throwing the future of the lucrative deal into doubt.

According to the Wall Street Journal, a staggering 14 publishers competed for the US rights to the crime novel before Minotaur Books, an imprint of Macmillan, secured a two-book deal worth more than $2million.

HarperCollins later acquired the UK rights, in an impressive feat for a first-time novel writer.

But after the massive deals were made, Falade’s literary agent, Marc Gerald of Europa Content, informed the publishers that he could no longer support the book after concerns were raised about possible AI use.

Now, Falade has fought back against the accusations, saying: ‘Definitely innocent!!!’

In another post, he added: ‘They CAN’T and WON’T stop this Black boy’s light from shining!!’

The writer also denied that AI wrote his manuscript, saying he used the technology only to research details for the crime novel.

Falade told the Journal that he used an open-source AI model running on his own device to look up information such as chemicals that could dissolve a human body and American English terminology, but said the software was never used to write the book itself.

He said he chose to run the model locally because he was researching violent crimes and did not want those searches stored by online services.

The author also questioned how his unpublished manuscript ended up being examined by AI-detection software.

‘I never consented to anyone running my creative work through AI detection software,’ he wrote in one Instagram Story.

In another, he asked: ‘Who leaked my manuscript? Who ran it through AI-detection software? And who has the most to gain from everything that’s happening?’

Falade said he has retained legal counsel.

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Falade also argued that the accusations reflected a long history of Black writers having to defend their work.

He reposted information about 18th-century poet Phillis Wheatley, who was forced to prove she had written her own poetry, before drawing parallels with his own experience.

‘Eighteenth century: People of Color who wrote books were forced to sit before committees of white men and answer questions to prove they had written their own work,’ one post read.

‘Later, whenever a Person of Color wrote something good, we were accused of plagiarism.’

‘2026: If you’re a Person of Color and you secure a lucrative deal in history, someone, somewhere, will accuse you of using AI.’

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