Hachette Book Group (HBG) announced yesterday they will not be pursuing the publication of the Woody Allen memoir Apropos of Nothing, following intense scrutiny of the decision to support a director accused of sexual misconduct against his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow.
HBG – who also published Allen’s son Ronan Farrow’s book Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators a deep dive into the sexual misconduct by film mogul Harvey Weinstein – had staff walk out of their New York and Boston offices in protest against the book’s publication.
Woody Allen has had one of the most successful film careers out there, yet ugly allegations against the director will keep being revived.
“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.” An HBG spokesperson said in a statement, whilst also announcing all rights to the book will be returned to the author.
Initially, when HBG was ready to proceed with publishing, Ronan Farrow, Woody Allen’s own son took to Instagram to call out the publisher’s misstep in avoiding any serious fact-checking. He also mentioned their failure to reach out to Dylan Farrow, Allen’s accuser, for a rebuttal to the denial of the allegations.
Ronan Farrow, known for exposing the now-convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein, also cited he would be ending his professional relationship with HBG saying, “It’s wildly unprofessional in multiple obvious directions for Hachette to behave this way. But it also shows a lack of ethics and compassion for victims of sexual abuse, regardless of any personal connection or breach of trust here.”
Allen’s memoir was due to be published in April.
