Publisher drops Woody Allen memoir after fierce backlash

Woody Allen’s publisher has cancelled the release of his memoir after the company’s own employees staged a mass walkout in protest.

Woody Allen’s publisher has decided to cancel the planned release of his memoir Apropos Of Nothing.

The announcement by Hachette Book Group follows days of criticism focused on allegations that the US film director sexually abused his daughter Dylan Farrow. On Thursday, dozens of Hachette employees staged a walkout.

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“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,” the publisher said.

“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.” Allen’s book was scheduled to come out next month.

Allen’s upcoming autobiography has now been cancelled. Picture: AP, left, and AP Photo

Allen’s agreement with Hachette meant that he briefly shared a publisher with one of his biggest detractors, his son Ronan Farrow, whose book Catch And Kill was released last year by the Hachette division Little, Brown and Company. “Hachette’s publishing of Woody Allen’s memoir is deeply upsetting to me personally and an utter betrayal of my brother whose brave reporting, capitalised on by Hachette, gave voice to numerous survivors of sexual assault by powerful men,” Dylan Farrow said in a statement on Monday. Ronan Farrow followed up a day later, calling Hachette’s decision “wildly unprofessional”.

“Your policy of editorial independence among your imprints does not relieve you of your moral and professional obligations as the publisher of Catch and Kill, and as the leader of a company being asked to assist in efforts by abusive men to whitewash their crimes,” Farrow wrote. “Obviously I can’t in good conscience work with you any more. Imagine this were your sister.”

“Imagine this were your sister.” Picture: Getty

Both he and his sister complained that the publisher had not reached out to them to fact-check their father’s book.

Earlier this week, dozens of Hachette employees staged a walkout in protest of the book’s release.

“This afternoon, Grand Central Publishing employees are walking out of the Hachette New York office in protest of the publication of Woody Allen’s memoir,” the employees said in a statement. “We stand in solidarity with Ronan Farrow, Dylan Farrow and survivors of sexual assault.”