Culture & Artshate speechLiteratureSimon & Schuster

Critics Threaten Boycotts Of Simon & Schuster Over Milo Yiannopoulos Book Deal

"In response to this disgusting validation of hate, we will not cover a single [Simon & Schuster] book in 2017."
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By 

Books and Culture Writer, HuffPost

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Milo Yiannopoulos at a press conference in June.
Drew Angerer via Getty Images

After Milo Yiannopoulos, former Twitter creep and current editor at the notorious alt-right news platform Breitbart that is favored by white nationalists, announced yesterday he’d signed a $250,000 book deal with Simon & Schuster’s conservative Threshold imprint, the backlash was immediate. 

“YUCK AND BOO AND GROSS,” responded comedian Sarah Silverman on Twitter. Shannon Coulter, marketing specialist and founder of the Ivanka Trump boycott campaign #GrabYourWallet, tweeted, “[Simon & Schuster] are you concerned $250k book deal you gave Milo Yiannopoulos will read as condoning the racist harassment [Leslie Jones] endured?” 

Soon, however, pushback against the publisher transitioned from simple outrage to calls for organized resistance. One literary journal announced a boycott on coverage in 2017:

An indie bookstore also tweeted that it would not be stocking Simon & Schuster titles thanks to the Yiannopoulos deal: 

Some readers tweeted their agreement, noting that they couldn’t give their money to a publisher that supported Yiannopoulos’ message. Even Judd Apatow chimed in.

Threshold, an imprint specifically tailored to conservative nonfiction, has published books such as Donald Trump’s Crippled America, but a boycott of Simon & Schuster would likely hit hardest the authors from other, more diverse imprints not directly associated with this dustup, given that liberal boycotters were unlikely at any point to buy books from the right-leaning line. 

Writer and book publicist Kima Jones pointed out in a tweet that a broad boycott of the entire, diverse Simon & Schuster catalog would harm the careers of many writers of color, in the name of standing against white nationalism:

Writer Tanya Contois suggested specifically boycotting Threshold, while buying, reviewing and promoting books from the diverse Salaam imprint at Simon & Schuster.

But a few creatives now unwillingly associated with Yiannopoulos are choosing to pressure the publisher instead, declaring they would rather sever their professional relationships with the company than be on the same payroll. Emmett Plant, a producer who worked on more than 20 “Star Trek” audiobooks for CBS/Paramount, tweeted that he’d produced his last for them. (Simon & Schuster is a division of CBS Corporation.)

Writer Danielle Henderson, whose memoir The Ugly Cry is slated for publication by Simon & Schuster in 2018, revealed in a series of tweets that she was so outraged by her publisher’s new author that she was prepared to walk away from the deal if necessary:

She also pointed out that the publisher had fought hard to win her book, which has been optioned, and that they offered her a larger contract than Yiannopoulos. This likely gives her more clout, and more options, than many other authors at Simon & Schuster, though more established authors at the publisher have remained silent as of yet.

Is silence actually the best response? Lisa Lucas, executive director of the National Book Foundation, seems to think so:

In a post-Trump election era, however, many on the left must be wondering where the line between a chilling silence and the silence of tacit acceptance falls.

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Before You Go

Best Books of 2016
"The Vegetarian" by Han Kang(01 of18)
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In a three-part novel told from the perspective of a woman’s status-conscious husband, libidinous brother-in-law and desperate sister, the central character, Yeong-hye, suddenly chooses to give up all meat and animal products. This seemingly simple action blows up her entire social and family life around her -- but Yeong-hye quietly continues to refuse meat. Han Kang’s first novel to be translated into English, The Vegetarian seethes with quietly violent imagery and grapples with immense questions about human survival, patriarchal societies, the consequences of abuse, and, of course, eating meat. A work of magical realist horror, domestic psychological fiction, and a layered exploration of ethics, it’s one of the year’s true fiction must-reads. – Claire Fallon

Read our review of The Vegetarian. (credit:Hogarth)
"Another Brooklyn" by Jacqueline Woodson(02 of18)
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There’s no question that Jacqueline Woodson -- whose National Book Award-winning young adult novel Brown Girl Dreaming is written in verse -- is a stylish writer. The negative space in her first adult book, Another Brooklyn, communicates as much as the words on the page. The story of a girl whose family relocates to Brooklyn after a disorienting loss is peppered with anthropological views on death, sex, music and gentrification. Its heroine, August, once defined by her relationships with the young girls in her neighborhood, now works as a social scientist. Her reflection on her own coming of age is a big story in a small, melodic package. – Maddie Crum

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"The Seed Collectors" by Scarlett Thomas(03 of18)
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A bequest from an eccentric aunt sends a family of middle-aged siblings and cousins into turmoil, in this darkly comic, genre-tweaking novel. With pinches of fantasy and subversion, Thomas builds a rich and rollicking world of dysfunctional marriages, even more dysfunctional former flings, holistic yoga retreats, vanished parents and botanical exploring. It’s somehow too witty, too human and too fantastical all at once to forget. – CF

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A curiosity shop of reflections and vignettes, Williams’ collection of very short stories centers on the different forms God takes on when released unto the hands of mortal wonderers and worshipers. God can be the anticipated dinner party guest who never shows; God can be a fairy tale shared at bedtime. Read together, Joy Williams’ stories are a humanist manifesto, a celebration of our most mysterious values, desires and prejudices. – MC

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Karan Mahajan’s sophomore novel artfully and empathetically sketches out how small incidences of terror come to be, and how the effects tear through the lives of the victims and communities. Set mostly in Delhi, India, where a small bomb explosion forever alters the lives of the primary characters, The Association of Small Bombs pulls readers into the lives of bombmakers, jihadists, peaceful activists, victims and victims’ families. Mahajan’s jittery, sometimes disorienting narrative is propulsive reading, but also seems to mimic the effects of trauma left on his characters as they stumble through an uncertain world. His excellent novel leaves readers with a fuller, more human sense of a subject often caricatured or ignored by American media. – CF

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If you won’t listen to the National Book Foundation, which recently awarded The Underground Railroad its 2016 Fiction Award, listen to us: Read this book. Colson Whitehead weaves together a sordid history of white American violence toward black Americans, during and after slavery, into one steam-punked, sci-fied escape adventure about a woman named Cora. The writing: electrifying. The scenes: often horrifying. The book: unmissable. – CF

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It would not be difficult to write a parody of millennial toil. So many of our generation’s tragedies -- connected as they are to the virtual world -- seem disconnected from real, affecting consequences. It’d be easy to be nihilistic about all that, to write a scorching, heartless satire. But in Private Citizens, Tony Tulathimutte critiques the young, West coast set while still managing to love his characters, even the fame-obsessed, even the porn-addicted, even the self-righteous startup leaders. Each is handled with wit and tenderness. – MC

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Emma Cline’s debut is thrilling -- it’s carefully plotted, a quick and engrossing read -- but it does more work than most thrillers do. Readers who pick up the book will know whodunit, as the crimes committed in the story are loosely based on the historic murders carried out by Charles Manson. The tension, then, results from whether Cline’s fictional heroine, Evie Boyd, will get sucked into the alluring world of drugs, sex, rebellion and love shared between women. Isolated from her family and former friends, Evie slides easily into the Russell’s -- i.e., Manson’s -- community. Most of us would in her situation, The Girls seems to imply. But how far will she go before losing herself completely? Guided by Cline’s playful prose, we stay with Evie as she tests the limits of her morality. – MC

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Few can compete with Zadie Smith when she’s in form, and Swing Time is just that. Set in her childhood home and literary stomping grounds, North West London, the novel follows two black girls mutually drawn together by their identical light-brown skin, biracial background and passion for dancing -- then separated by their unequal talents and family situations. Smith’s dry humor, deft characterization and thematic richness are on full display in this bittersweet story of black girlhood and growing up. – CF

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