Hachette Employees Walk Out in Protest Over Woody Allen's Forthcoming Memoir

Multiple employees at the publishing house Hachette staged a walkout Thursday, citing solidarity with Ronan Farrow and Dylan Farrow after imprint Grand Central stated its intent to publish Woody Allen’s memoir, Apropos of Nothing, next month.

According to Deadline, a statement from the employees walking out was short and to the point: “We stand in solidarity with Ronan Farrow, Dylan Farrow and survivors of sexual assault.” Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch was reportedly supposed to hold a town hall explaining the decision to publish Allen’s work, but as Page Six reports, Pietsch was unable to find anyone on staff to support his decision. “None of the senior leadership would stand with him and the staff walked out of the offices,” a source told the paper. Hmm. Curious!

Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill was published by Hachette imprint Little, Brown in October 2019; Farrow cut ties with his publisher on Tuesday after news broke that they would be releasing his father’s memoir and criticized Pietsch in a scathing rebuke of their decision.

From the New York Times:

“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,” Mr. Farrow wrote in an email to Michael Pietsch, the chief executive of Hachette, whose Little, Brown imprint published “Catch and Kill.”

“As you and I worked on ‘Catch and Kill’” — a book “in part about the damage Woody Allen did to my family,” Mr. Farrow added — “you were secretly planning to publish a book by the person who committed those acts of sexual abuse.”

“Obviously I can’t in good conscience work with you any more,” he wrote at the end of his message. “Imagine this were your sister.”

According to Page Six, staff at Hachette reportedly complained to H.R. at 3 P.M. Thursday. They walked out shortly after.