Hachette employees stage walkout to protest Woody Allen memoir: 'Stand in solidarity with Ronan and Dylan Farrow'

To protest the Hachette Book Group announcement that its imprint, Grand Central, would be publishing Woody Allen’s memoir A_propos of Nothing_ on 7 April, workers at the company staged a walkout of its New York offices on Thursday. The employees added that their concerns about publishing someone accused of sexual abuse weren’t being addressed. Earlier this week, the same announcement caused Woody Allen’s son, journalist and author Ronan Farrow, to cut ties with the publisher . His 2019 book, Catch and Kill, was published by Little, Brown and Company, whose parent company is Hachette too.

“It’s a huge conflict of interest and wrong,” one Hachette employee told The Guardian. When asked if they’d called for the book’s withdrawal, the employee added: “It’s not up to us – it’s up to the higher ups if they want to hear our voices.” The employees stand in solidarity with Ronan Farrow, Dylan Farrow, the adoptive daughter of the filmmaker who also accused him of sexual assault, and other survivors of sexual harassment all over.

While several employees protested, others met with Hachette chief executive Michael Pietsch to make three demands : to cancel the publication of Mr Allen’s book; to publicly apologise; and to recognise that Hachette employees have the ability to speak up about books they disagree with without fear of reprisal. [caption id=“attachment_8124221” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Photo credit: Twitter @kabarkoff[/caption] Following the walkout, Dylan Farrow tweeted that she was “unbelievably overwhelmed” by their solidarity.

The protest also received support from others in the publishing industry, including union employees at HarperCollins:

Hachette has since released a statement saying they “understand the perspective of our employees” and that they “will engage our staff in a fuller discussion about this at the earliest opportunity”.