Stephen King speaks out after being named most banned author in US

Stephen King, often dubbed the King of Horror, is one of the most popular and influential authors alive today.

Some of his most beloved books, including It, The Long Walk, and The Life of Chuck, are now all feature films, while The Outsider and Under the Dome have all been given the TV treatment over the years.

But despite his mass success, King, 78, is actually the most-banned author in the United States: and he’s spoken out about it.

According to new data published by non-profit organisation PEN America, there were 6,800 instances of books being temporarily or permanently pulled during the 2024-2025 school year across various institutions.

The report, titled Banned in the USA, claims that 80 percent of the book bans originate in three states: Florida, Texas, and Tennessee.

Stephen King has spoken out on having a plethora of his books banned across the United States (X/stephenking)

More worryingly, the compiled data has revealed that book bans have increased dramatically over the last three years, per the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

According to PEN, King’s books have been censored a staggering 206 times, with Carrie and The Stand among 87 of his works affected, reported NBC.

Most of these removals have occurred in public school libraries, not from general circulation nationwide, Newsweek said.

It’s understood that the works of fiction were banned because of their mature content.

After the findings were published on Wednesday (October 1), The Shining writer took to X to declare himself as the ‘most banned author in the United States’.

“May I suggest you pick up one of them and see what all the pissing & moaning is about? Self-righteous book banners don't always get to have their way. This is still America, dammit,” the Maine-native added.

This isn’t the first time that King has addressed his books being banned.

After hearing last year that Florida had removed a significant number of works due to state legislation addressing sexually explicit material in school bookshelves, the father-of-three said: "Florida has banned 23 [of] my books. What the f**k?”

Carrie is one of the books on the banned list, according to the PEN America report (Sony Pictures Releasing)

In a statement to Newsweek at the time, he wrote: "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.”

Kasey Meehan, director of PEN’s Freedom to Read program and an author of Wednesday’s report, has shed some light on why King’s library has been targeted more than others.

“His books are often removed from shelves when ‘adult’ titles or books with ‘sex content’ are targeted for removal — these prohibitions overwhelmingly ban LGBTQ+ content and books on race, racism, and people of color — but also affect titles like Stephen King’s books,” she explained to NBC.

“Some districts — in being overly cautious or fearful of punishment — will sweep so wide they end up removing Stephen King from access, too.”

Other authors who’ve suffered book banning in the United States this time around include fantasy author Sarah J. Maas, Jodi Picoult, and Patricia McCormick.

The latest blow to King’s career comes just weeks after MAGA supporters attempted to cancel him for comments made about conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The 31-year-old was fatally shot during a Prove Me Wrong event at a university in Utah on September 10.

King took to social media after his death and falsely claimed that the father-of-two ‘advocated stoning gays to death’.

It appeared that he was referring to a comment Kirk made to YouTuber Ms Rachel after she referred to a Bible verse as a reminder to ‘love your neighbor as yourself’.

The legendary author found himself in hot water last month after he made a comment about Charlie Kirk (X/stephenking)

“By the way Ms. Rachel, you might want to crack open that Bible of yours, in a lesser referenced part in the same part of scripture, is in Leviticus 18 is that 'Thou shall lay with another man, shall be stoned to death.' Just saying... [This chapter] affirms God's perfect law when it comes to sexual matters.”

Social media users were quick to point out that King had misquoted Donald Trump’s ally, leading to him posting an apology online.

King wrote: “I apologize for saying Charlie Kirk advocated stoning gays. What he actually demonstrated was how some people cherry-pick Biblical passages.”

Earlier this summer, King revealed how he would describe the end of Trump's America if he was to write it in a novel.

“I think it would be impeachment – which, in my view, would be a good ending,” he said, as per The Guardian.

“I would love to see him retired, let’s put it that way. The bad ending would be that he gets a third term and takes things over completely.”