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Julie Burchill’s cancel culture book has been cancelled

By March 17, 2021News, Political

A book about ‘cancel culture’ by a British journalist has been cancelled by her publisher.

The publisher, Little, Brown, has decided to cancel the book by Julie Burchill after the writer had legal action taken against her. Burchill was accused of Islamophobia on Twitter after being involved in a row with another journalist, Ash Sarkar, and has had to pay damages and make a public apology.

The book, Welcome to the Woke Trials, had been due to be published by in April.

Publishers Little, Brown said her comments were “not defensible from a moral or intellectual standpoint” and “crossed a line with regard to race and religion.”

“We will no longer be publishing Julie Burchill’s book. This is not a decision we have taken lightly,” they said in a statement.

The publishers continued: “We believe passionately in freedom of speech at Little, Brown and we have always published authors with controversial or challenging perspectives – and we will continue to do so.

“While there is no legal definition of hate speech in the UK, we believe that Julie’s comments on Islam are not defensible from a moral or intellectual standpoint, that they crossed a line with regard to race and religion, and that her book has now become inextricably linked with those views.”

Burchill had accused Sarkar of “worshipping” a paedophile – meaning the prophet Mohammed – and that she was an “islamist”. Burchill also admits in her statement that she sent “racist and misogynistic” comments about Sarkar’s appearance and sex life, and that she had ‘liked’ comments by others that told Ash Sarkar to kill herself.

Burchill’s actions caused a wave of death threats and abuse towards Sarkar, which she asserted in her statement that she did not mean to cause and was unaware of the continued abuse coming from right-wing conspiracy sites.

The shamed writer has had to pay damages and release a full apology (below).

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