Robert Muchamore, well-known as one of the most straight-talking of children’s writers, not afraid to make derogatory comments about fellow authors, has done a Daniel Handler and offered up say-sorry money for remarks made on his Facebook page.

Although the comments (about a group of women he characterised as lesbians) were made on Facebook, the very precise sum of atonement has been calculated on the basis of his Twitter followers.

£10K sounds like a lot of money to put in the shouldn’t-have-said-that jar, but Muchamore is astute enough to know that it will buy, in addition to a modicum of forgiveness, a good amount of national publicity.

YA author Robert Muchamore is donating £10,218 to LGBT charities after making a “cheap shot” about lesbians on his public Facebook page.

Muchamore said he will split the money, which is £1 for every one of his 10,218 followers onTwitter, between four different charities.

His promise comes after he voiced insulting criticism of a group of women who were protesting about the new "Fifty Shades of Grey" film.

“I was venting because I was extremely pissed off about being shouted at and called a rapist by a group of protesters when I went to see ’50 Shades of Grey’. But since I’m not five years old I can’t use ‘they started it,’ as a defence and I therefore apologise to everyone I pissed off,” he later said on his Facebook page. “Rather than try to justify myself or drone on about what a nice guy I am and how I have lots of gay friends and write books full of positive gay role models, I thought it would be better to make an actual difference to the lives of LGBT people.”

via Muchamore donates £10k to LGBT charities | The Bookseller.