03/06/2020
From The New York Times:
Hachette Says It Won’t Publish Woody Allen’s Book
The publisher planned to release the filmmaker’s autobiography in April but reversed course after a protest by its own workers.
By John Williams
March 6, 2020, 6:05 p.m. ETHachette Book Group on Friday dropped its plans to publish Woody Allen’s autobiography and said it would return all rights to the author, a day after its employees protested its deal with the filmmaker …
But she added that Hachette executives had discussed the matter with its employees and, “after listening, we came to the conclusion that moving forward with publication would not be feasible for HBG.” …
The journalist Ronan Farrow, whose book “Catch and Kill” was published by another Hachette imprint, criticized Hachette in an email exchange earlier this week, calling its decision to publish Mr. Allen’s book a betrayal. “Your policy of editorial independence among your imprints does not relieve you of your moral and professional obligations as the publisher of ‘Catch and Kill,’ and as the leader of a company being asked to assist in efforts by abusive men to whitewash their crimes,” Mr. Farrow wrote to Michael Pietsch, the chief executive of Hachette.
Mr. Farrow, whose reporting on accusations of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein and other powerful men helped touch off the #MeToo movement, is Mr. Allen’s son with the actress Mia Farrow. Mr. Farrow and his adopted sister, Dylan Farrow, have long accused Mr. Allen of molesting her when she was a child, allegations he has denied. Mr. Allen was not charged after two investigations.
Also, Ronan Farrow has had plastic surgery to look less like Woody Allen and more like the man he believes or wants to believe was actually his father, his mother’s ex-husband Frank Sinatra.
In other words, we’re talking about several extremely talented and motivated individuals — Woody Allen, Mia Farrow, and Ronan Farrow (Ronan is the son of somebody gigantically famous, but which one is a question) — who have long been having an extremely personal dispute over allegations that outside law enforcement investigators have twice failed to substantiate.
… On Thursday, Hachette employees staged a walkout to protest their company’s plans. Hachette subsequently said it would have “a fuller discussion” with its staff members.
As I’ve been pointing out for a few years, the Culture Industry (e.g., book publishers) is increasingly held hostage by its practice of employing a lot of poorly paid young women in behind-the-scenes jobs. You don’t have to pay young women much to work in glamour industries, but you have to listen when they take something personally. They’ve got a lot of emotional energy and we live in a culture where it’s increasingly forbidden to mention that women don’t always think accurately when their emotions are engaged.
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