New York (AFP)

Called to give up by several of its employees, who have launched a petition, the American publisher Simon & Schuster has announced its intention to publish, as planned, the autobiography of former vice-president Mike Pence.

Nearly 3,000 people have signed the petition, which believes that the house is making itself "an accomplice in preserving white supremacy" by publishing the book, and "will generate income for the benefit of a figure in the presidency who has favored, without equivocal ", and among others," racism, sexism "and" homophobia ".

Mike Pence's book discusses his journey and "the key moments" of his tenure as vice president and the Trump presidency, according to a memo published in early April.

"We set to work every day to publish, by to delete" ("cancel"), wrote the CEO of Simon & Schuster, Jonathan Karp, in an internal letter sent to AFP on Wednesday.

He thus uses the term "cancel", an allusion to the "cancel culture", which corresponds to the initiatives of activists who publicly attack a personality accused of a comment, a decision or an inappropriate act. or open to criticism.

The movement then pushes the accused to apologize, reverse his decision or even quit his functions or public life.

To delete, or forgo publishing, "is the most extreme decision a publisher can take", which is "contrary to the essence of our mission, namely to offer diversity in writing and perspectives", Jonathan Karp added.

"For this reason, we will honor our publication agreement with Vice President Mike Pence," said the executive.

The contract covers the publication of two books, the first of which is expected in 2023.

Last week, Simon & Schuster decided not to publish the book by Jonathan Mattingly, one of the police officers involved in the homicide of Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was killed in March 2020 in her bed by gunfire. police targeting his companion in Louisville, Kentucky.

In March 2020, the publisher Hachette and its subsidiary Grand Central Publishing had given up publishing the autobiography of American director Woody Allen after a protest movement within its teams.

Employees felt that the publisher had not taken sufficient precautions vis-à-vis this story, especially regarding the sexual assault charges against Woody Allen.

© 2021 AFP