CULTURE
12:00 PM PST 3/6/2020
by
Sharareh Drury
“At HBG we take our relationships with authors very seriously, and do not cancel books lightly,” the publishing company said in a statement.
Hachette Book Group will no longer publish Woody Allen’s memoir, Apropos of Nothing.
“Hachette Book Group has decided that it will not publish Woody Allen’s memoir Apropos of Nothing, originally scheduled for sale in April 2020, and will return all rights to the author,” the publishing company said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
“The decision to cancel Mr. Allen’s book was a difficult one. At HBG we take our relationships with authors very seriously, and do not cancel books lightly. We have published and will continue to publish many challenging books. As publishers, we make sure every day in our work that different voices and conflicting points of views can be heard. Also, as a company, we are committed to offering a stimulating, supportive and open work environment for all our staff. Over the past few days, HBG leadership had extensive conversations with our staff and others. After listening, we came to the conclusion that moving forward with publication would not be feasible for HBG.”
A source tells THR that following the announcement, HBG staff were surprised yet also relieved, clapping and cheering over the news.
Thursday’s walkout included employees from imprints Little, Brown and Company, which released Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill, and Grand Central Publishing, which announced Monday that it would be releasing Allen’s memoir April 7. Following the announcement, Farrow stated he would be ending his relationship with Hachette. Farrow, Allen’s son, has repeatedly stated he believes his sister Dylan Farrow’s allegations that the filmmaker sexually abused her as a child.
“I was disappointed to learn through press reports that Hachette, my publisher, acquired Woody Allen’s memoir after other major publishers refused to do so and concealed the decision from me and its own employees while we were working on Catch and Kill — a book about how powerful men, including Woody Allen, avoid accountability for sexual abuse,” the investigative reporter tweeted Tuesday. Later in the statement, he said he told the publisher he couldn’t work with the company “in good conscience” any longer.
Farrow criticized the publishing company for not fact-checking the book. “My sister Dylan has never been contacted to respond to any denial or mischaracterization of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Woody Allen — a credible allegation, maintained for almost three decades, backed up by contemporaneous accounts and evidence,” he wrote. “It’s wildly unprofessional in multiple obvious directions for Hachette to behave this way. But it also shows a lack of ethics and compassion for victims of sexual abuse, regardless of any personal connection or breach of trust here.”
Dylan Farrow also issued a statement Tuesday on Twitter, writing that Hachette’s decision is “deeply upsetting to me personally and an utter betrayal of my brother.” She also pointed to a discrepancy between the lack of fact-checking of Allen’s memoir and the “endless scrutiny” and “extensive fact-checking” hers has undergone before ever being published. “Hachette’s complicity in this should be called out for what it is and they should have to answer for it,” she added.
In Catch and Kill, Farrow details his initial reluctance to fully engage with or speak out publicly regarding his sister’s longtime allegations about their father. The reporter broke his silence in a 2016 guest column in THR, writing, “I believe my sister. This was always true as a brother who trusted her, and, even at 5 years old, was troubled by our father’s strange behavior around her.”
Let’s block ads! (Why?)
