The journalist who penned a controversial book about the killing of gay college student Matthew Shepard is challenging Rachel Maddow to invite him on her MSNBC show to debunk the widely-held view that Shepard's murder was a gay hate crime.
"I invite Rachel Maddow to call me. This is a person, a journalist, for whom I've had respect in the past," Stephen Jimenez said Friday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
"But she has gone on her show ridiculing the idea that this was not an anti-gay hate crime."
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Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student, was beaten and tortured on Oct. 6, 1998, and died six days later. The savage murder was widely seen as a gay hate crime
But Jimenez's tome —
"The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths About the Murder of Matthew Shepard," published by Steerforth — concludes Shepard was a crystal meth dealer who knew his killers. The author believes Shepard was the victim of a drug deal gone bad.
The book, which has just been issued in paperback, was long shunned by gay journalists, Jimenez said.
"But over the months, more and more people were willing to talk about the book positively. There has been some shift, but I still haven't gotten a call from any of the majors," he said.
He is particularly interested in speaking with Maddow since she is an openly gay journalist.
"I'm saying, have me on the show. I'd like to talk to you, Rachel, about the 13-plus years of investigation I did into this case," Jimenez said.
"The crystal meth epidemic had a huge impact on the gay community."
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