Despite a petition from some employees that wanted a proposed book by former Vice President Mike Pence to be canceled, Simon & Schuster has announced that it would continue with publishing the memoir, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
An online petition circulated by employees internally and on social media demanded that the company cancel Pence’s book, not sign deals with other Trump administration figures, and cut off a distribution relationship with conservative book publisher Post Hill Press.
The petition stated that "By choosing to publish Mike Pence, Simon & Schuster is generating wealth for a central figure of a presidency that unequivocally advocated for racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Blackness, xenophobia, misogyny, ableism, islamophobia, antisemitism, and violence. This is not a difference of opinions; this is legitimizing bigotry."
In a letter to staffers, Simon & Schuster Chief Executive Jonathan Karp rejected the petition, saying, "As a publisher in this polarized era, we have experienced outrage from both sides of the political divide and from different constituencies and groups. But we come to work each day to publish, not cancel, which is the most extreme decision a publisher can make, and one that runs counter to the very core of our mission to publish a diversity of voices and perspectives."
Last week, Simon & Schuster, the publishing arm of ViacomCBS, Inc., decided not to distribute a Post Hill-Press book written by Jonathan Mattingly, a Louisville police officer involved in the Breonna Taylor shooting, according to The Wall Steet Journal.
But Karp explained in his letter to staffers the difference, saying "That decision was immediate, unprecedented, and responsive to the concerns we heard from you and our authors. At the same time, we have contractual obligations and must continue to respect the terms of our agreements with our client publishers."
Post Hill Press publisher Anthony Ziccardi defended the decision to publish the Mattingly book, saying "We feel people need to understand the story, read it, and allow the officer to have a voice."
Bertelsmann SE has agreed to buy Simon & Schuster for almost $2.18 billion, a deal that is expected to be finalized later this year pending regulatory approval.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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