• iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Stephen King had a three word response after discovering 50 of his books were banned by authorities

Home> News> US News

Published 17:46 9 Jan 2025 GMT

Stephen King had a three word response after discovering 50 of his books were banned by authorities

The King of Horror had a short but very to the point reply

Tom Earnshaw

Tom Earnshaw

Featured Image Credit: Joe Kohen / Getty Images the New Yorker / Stefano Guidi / Getty Images

Topics: Stephen King, Books, US News, Celebrity, Film, Viral, Politics

Tom Earnshaw
Tom Earnshaw

Tom joined LADbible Group in 2024, currently working as SEO Lead across all brands including LADbible, UNILAD, SPORTbible, Tyla, UNILAD Tech, and GAMINGbible. He moved to the company from Reach plc where he enjoyed spells as a content editor and senior reporter for one of the country's most-read local news brands, LancsLive. When he's not in work, Tom spends his adult life as a suffering Manchester United supporter after a childhood filled with trebles and Premier League titles. You can't have it all forever, I suppose.

X

@TREarnshaw

Advert

Advert

Advert

Stephen King wasn't best pleased when a state in the USA banned more than 50 of his books in schools.

Florida undertook the decision in a move that saw children restricted from dozens of books - both from King and other authors.

It placed restrictions on school libraries across the state under landmark legislation signed by Florida governor Ron DeSantis way back in 2022.

Advert

King is of course best known for producing content that isn't exactly child friendly. Dubbed the King of Horror, he is the brain behind the likes of Carrie, The Shining, Misery, It, The Green Mile, and The Shawshank Redemption.

The change to the law - which came in to effect in July 2023 - excluded dozens of books that included sexually explicit content.

This was after complaints from a conservative political organisation known as Moms for Liberty which actively campaigned to ban books in schools that mention gender and sexuality.

Advert

King himself found out about the ban second hand in September last year, taking to X (formerly Twitter) to vent his two cents at 23 of his own novels being included in the list.

Stephen King didn't take kindly to the ban (Manny Hernandez/Getty Images)
Stephen King didn't take kindly to the ban (Manny Hernandez/Getty Images)

He candidly wrote: "Florida has banned 23 of my books. What the f**k?"

Following the social media blow up, with King's tweet seen more than 15 million times before it was deleted, book publishers including Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster and HarperCollins Publishers filed a lawsuit against the state of Florida saying the ban violated rights to free speech as protected under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

Books reported to have been banned include Carrie, Cujo, Doctor Sleep, Blaze, It, Pet Sematary, and Salem's Lot. The Miami New Times has reported that more than 50 of his books have now been banned in Florida schools.

Advert

WTF?, King tweeted (Marc Andrew Deley/Getty Images)
WTF?, King tweeted (Marc Andrew Deley/Getty Images)

Other books banned were Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

On top of that, even Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl made the banning list.

In a statement shared with Newsweek, King said: "I have said it before, and will say it again.

"When books are banned from school libraries, run to your public library, or the nearest bookstore, and read what it is your elders don't want you to know."

Advert

Banned in schools (Stefano Guidi/Getty Images)
Banned in schools (Stefano Guidi/Getty Images)

Collier County Public Schools, which runs 47 schools in Florida attended by more than 47,000 children, said the authority is 'putting fresh eyes on the list of books and overall review process to remain in alignment with Florida law'.

Non-compliance with the book banning order could result in third degree felonies, the school body explained.

The court case looking to overturn the ban remains active and unresolved, with the Florida state filing to throw the case out in December 2024. The case continues.

Choose your content:

12 hours ago
13 hours ago
16 hours ago
  • 12 hours ago

    Elon Musk urges release of Epstein files weeks after accusing Trump of being involved in fiery X rant

    Musk made a bombshell claim about his former 'first buddy'

    News
  • 13 hours ago

    Arne Slot releases emotional statement after Diogo Jota tragically dies aged 28

    The Liverpool forward and his brother died this morning

    News
  • 13 hours ago

    Mum says picture of her son at nursery saved his life after camera flash revealed rare disease

    Laura Davies, from Wales, says she would have 'never known' without the photo

    News
  • 16 hours ago

    Brit, 29, who fell ill moments after getting tattoo on hen do fighting for life in coma

    Poppy-Mae Crutchley began to feel unwell 'instantly' after she got the inking in the Spanish party hotspot

    News
  • Four legendary Stephen King books could be worth a small fortune if you have them lying around
  • Stephen King hated movie about one of his own stories so much he sued production
  • Rare Stephen King book with just 26 copies in the world is worth enough to secure a house deposit if you have it
  • 'Amazing' Stephen King book bought for 20 pence is actually worth a small fortune due to controversial inclusion