Hachette Book Group has made the decision to drop Woody Allen’s memoir, Apropos of Nothing, and it only took the collective ire of its staff to make the publisher change its mind. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Hachette cancelled plans to publish the Allen’s memoir after the staff walked out in solidarity with Ronan Farrow, who severed all professional ties with the publisher in protest. Hachette released the following statement to THR:
“Hachette Book Group has decided that it will not 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 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.”
Grand Central Publishing, an imprint of Hachette, announced the acquisition and planned release of Allen’s memoir on Monday. Farrow, who heard about the acquisition through the news with everyone else, responded the next day on Twitter. In a statement, the author stated that he would not be working with fellow imprint Little, Brown or any other division of Hachette, which had shown “a lack of ethics and compassion for victims of sexual abuse.” As of now, neither Allen nor Farrow have publicly responded to Hachette’s decision.