The Hachette book group cancelled its publishing deal with Woody Allen, who’s accused of sexually abusing his daughter Dylan Farrow. The announcement came after pressure mounted on the group. Employees of Hachette staged a protest walk-out and employees of Hachette’s imprints Little Brown and Grand Central Publishing also took a public stand against the deal.
A statement from the publishers says, “Hachette Book Group has decided it will no publish Woody Allen’s memoir A Propos of Nothing, originally scheduled for sale in April 2020, and will return all rights to the author.” The publishing group said that the decision to cancel his book was a difficult one. “At HBG we take our relationships with authors very seriously, and do not cancel books lightly. As publishers, we make sure every day in our work that different voices and conflicting points of view can be heard.” The publishing house further said that after listening to various voices within the organisation it would not be feasible for it to publish the book.
Dylan Farrow said in a statement, that she is in awe and so very grateful to all the employees of Hachette US, Little Brown and Grand Central, for taking a stand.
To all the employees of @HachetteUS, @littlebrown, and @GrandCentralPub who took a stand, I’m in awe and so very grateful. pic.twitter.com/Si4oXpudde
— Dylan Farrow (@RealDylanFarrow) March 6, 2020
Her brother Ronan too took to Twitter to thank Hachette employees.
I’m grateful to all the Hachette employees and authors who spoke up and to the company for listening.
— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) March 6, 2020
An employee of Hachette told Refinery29, “The biggest complaint is that we feel strongly about everyone’s right to tell their own story, but we don’t agree with giving Woody Allen a platform with which to tell it that includes distribution, marketing, publicity. I think we feel he does not deserve a platform, that by publishing him we are in some way validating his story.” Refinery29 also reported that “Little, Brown and Company, another imprint of Hachette Book Group, was responsible for publishing Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill, the Pulitzer Prize winner’s account of reporting on the sexual assault and misconduct accusations against now-convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein. Dylan Farrow, Ronan’s sister, accused Woody Allen of sexually abusing her as a child (in 1993 the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of Yale–New Haven Hospital concluded that Allen had not sexually abused Dylan, and to this day he maintains his innocence). Ronan has repeatedly stood by his sister’s accusation, and announced on Tuesday that he is dropping Hachette Book Group as his publisher.”
