Woody Allen's memoirs stumble on publication due to accusations of harassment

Lamia Raafat

Hachette Publishing has canceled the memoirs of the famous American director Woody Allen, who was scheduled for next April, and to restore the author’s copyright due to accusations of harassment against his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow.

Hachette Publishing said in an official statement that the decision to cancel the publication of the book was "difficult", adding, "In our publishing house, we take our relationship with the authors very seriously, and we do not cancel the publication of any book for a simple reason. We published and will continue to publish books that represent challenges, and publishers make sure every day In our work, different and dissenting views are heard. Likewise, as a company, we are committed to providing a supportive and open work environment for our workers, and during the previous days we had lengthy conversations with our team, and after hearing them, we reached a decision that moving forward with the printing of this book is not appropriate for us. ”

Hachette employees had made previous protests by leaving their offices in refusal of their contribution to the publication of the book, as well as joining the protests of many workers in other publishing houses such as Brown and Grand Central, and Ronan Farrow, son of Allen, adopted to threaten to stop his work in Hachette House if he published the notes of the American director.

Since 2017 Ronan has continuously announced that he believes his sister Dylan Farrow's claim against Woody Allen that he sexually harassed her during her childhood, and tweeted via his Twitter account, "I am disappointed to know about Hashit's decision to publish the book after many other major publishers refused this," adding that the publishing house She hid the decision from the staff and that he would not be able to work with the publishing house again for a long time if Allen's notes were published.

Hachette’s decision to cancel the project was welcomed by the workers at the house, and Ronan tweeted, “I am grateful to all Hachette employees who spoke with the company and the last one to hear them.”

Dylan also tweeted, "I am very grateful to everyone who stood in this protest, and put himself in great professional danger in solidarity with me, my brother and all victims of sexual assaults, the words will never describe the burden of gratitude that I owe you", and considered that this decision is a deep reminder of what can It makes a difference when people stand and unite together for what is right.

On the other hand, in a reaction rejecting this cancellation, the author Stephen King tweeted, expressing his "turbulent" feelings about the book that the house refused to publish, saying, "Hachette’s decision to cancel the publication of Woody Allen's book makes me very uncomfortable, and my distress is not for a personal reason, I do not care for the master. Allen, the effect of this ban is what worries me, that no matter what Allen did, it should not contradict the publication of his memoirs, because the book is intended to be a deep dive into the life and profession of man and to reveal the professional and personal relationships he fought, and it should have happened without this ban Or community oversight. "