OF THE
TIMES
Simon & Schuster is standing by its two-book deal with former Vice President Pence despite an employee petition against it, the company's president and CEO said in a letter sent to staffers Tuesday.
"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. We will, therefore, proceed in our publishing agreement with Vice President Mike Pence," Karp added.
Karp did not address when he first knew about the employee petition or how many people had signed it.
A spokesperson for Simon & Schuster declined to comment on the petition, referring questions back to Karp's letter.
Pence could not be reached for comment.
He then asked employees to maintain perspective about the books the company is publishing and to realize not everyone shares the same opinions about signing controversial authors.
"For those who think some of our titles are a step backward, let's appreciate the many Simon & Schuster books that are taking us two steps forward," Karp wrote. "Let's also acknowledge that we don't agree on which titles are taking us forward and backward! That tension โ that push and pull โ is a healthy part of the dialectic provided by classically liberal publishing companies."
Simon & Schuster staff are not the first publishing employees to protest recent deals their companies made with high-profile authors.
In March of last year, Hachette Book Group employees walked off the job to protest the planned publication of Woody Allen's memoir.
And in November, employees at Penguin Random House Canada complained when their company was planning to publish a Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life, the follow-up to the bestseller 12 Rules for Life written by Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson.
The petition specifically demands that the company not publish a memoir by former Vice President Mike Pence and not treat "the Trump administration as a 'normal' chapter in American history," the Wall Street Journal reported.
"When S&S chose to sign Mike Pence, we broke the public's trust in our editorial process, and blatantly contradicted previous public claims in support of Black and other lives made vulnerable by structural oppression," the petition reads.
America is over. Sad but true. 7/4/1776 - 1/20/2021. (RIP)RC
The PTB surely couldn't have pulled off, even two decades previous, all of this BS reality denial by these people who wish to commute to work on their unicorns and think that 'it's not a dream' - well, surely, good old ground reality will catch up with them harder because they're just being allowed by their employers to 'evade' it.
Fortunately, Florida is still an employment at will state and I were the boss at S&S I'd write up a memo similar to what I once had to pleasure to do:
Some entitled employee at my office was being like a spoiled brat (I forget the details though I'm sure that she carries to this day, self-entitled righteousness witht some warped collection of non-factual 'facts.' Well, there were two other employees there but she was yelling at me (I never yell at people except as a warning that there's a landslide coming or such) but my last words to her (and what I said was the equivalent 'Sorry, but it's my way or the highway.'; she kept on bitching and I said, (I'd asked her to go back to her work and she wouldn't, and I said 'If that's you way that you feel and you can't keep from complaining about my decision rather than working, well, 'Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.'
She huffed out the door.
R.C.