Simon & Schuster employees have organized a petition demanding that the publishing house quit publishing books by writers associated with the Trump administration. 216 workers and 3,500 external partners, including well-known black authors, have already signed the petition.
Employees delivered the petition to management on Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal, requesting that the organization refrain from publishing former Vice President Mike Pence’s memoirs.
The publisher is asked not to regard the Trump administration “as a regular chapter in American history,” according to the letter.
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However, when the publisher’s CEO Jonathan Karp heard of the petition, he sent an internal memo rejecting the workers’ demands. Beyond that, a company spokesman declined to comment.
The 216 workers who signed the petition account for about 14% of Simon & Schuster’s total workforce. Furthermore, as previously mentioned, the petition received over 3,500 signatures from outside backers, including Jasmine Ward, the first woman and African-American to win the National Book Prize twice.
Pence is accused of supporting discriminatory and homophobic practices, as well as discriminating against the LGBT community, according to the petition.
Pence reportedly signed a deal worth more than $ 3 million to publish two books at a publishing house earlier this month. “The public is editing it,” the petition said, “and we have blatantly disproved past public allegations of support for blacks and other communities that have become vulnerable due to systematic repression.” Pence’s spokesperson did not respond to the accusations.
Simon & Schuster is one of the most well-known publishers of political books is . Last year, she published a number of books in the area, including those by Fox News host Sean Hannity and former National Security Adviser John Bolton’s memoirs.
In a memo, Karp wrote, “As a publishing house operating during this political moment, we have faced outrage on both sides of the political map and from different groups.”
“However, we came to work every day to advertise, not to cancel, because this is the most drastic move a publisher might make, and it runs counter to our simple task of actively publishing voices and insights.”
Bertelsmann, a German publishing house, has bought Simon & Schuster from Viacom for $ 2.18 billion. After securing regulatory approval, the transaction is scheduled to close later this year.
