Published 19:26 IST, March 6th 2020
Hachette employees walk out of offices to protest publication of Woody Allen's biography
Hachette employees staged a walkout from the New York City offices in order to protest the publication of the biography of the Hollywood director Woody Allen.
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Woody Allen might be a great director, but it seems that he has fallen from grace ever since he was accused of molesting his daughter as a child. The publishing company Hachette will be releasing an autobiography on the actor. In protest of this, dozens of employees from the company walked out of the New York City office on Thursday, March 5.
Hachette employees in protest
According to an article in a leading news agency, an imprint of Hachette named Grand Central had announced that they would be publishing Woody Allen's book. It is called Apropos of Nothing on April 7, 2020. The company, however, did not disclose any financial terms, which Grand Central had acquired a year ago.
Woody Allen was accused by his daughter Dylan Farrow of molesting her as a child. Ronan Farrow, Allen’s son, also supported his sister's allegations and has a book Catch and Kill based on the #MeToo era. The book was published by Little, Brown, which is yet another imprint of Hachette. The author has now threatened to cut ties with the publisher.
One of Hachette’s employees was quoted in a news article talking about how it is a huge conflict of interest and wrong. Another of Hachette workers talked about how everyone has the right to respond to any allegations but they do not feel correct to pay them.
Dylan thanked the employees at Hachette and shared that she was overwhelmed to see the support. Other publishing companies are also coming in support of Farrow. Harper Collins Union also tweeted in support:
Unbelievably overwhelmed and so incredibly grateful for the solidarity demonstrated by @HachetteUS and @littlebrown employees today. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
— Dylan Farrow (@RealDylanFarrow) March 5, 2020
We stand in solidarity with Hachette workers. Collective action is how we hold the powerful accountable. #littlebrownwalkout https://t.co/REPO5bm9Xv
— HarperCollins Union (@hcpunion) March 5, 2020
Hachette's CEO Michael Pietsch had received major backlash from people after he claimed that each book has its mission. He also had talked about how their job as a publisher is help the author achieve what they want. They just want to fulfil what the authors have set out to do while creating the book.
19:26 IST, March 6th 2020