Simon & Schuster staff protest Mike Pence book deal

Staff at publishers Simon & Schuster have called for the contract with Mike Pence to be dropped.

Former vice president Mike Pence signed a seven-figure book deal with Simon & Schuster reported to be worth between $3-$4 million. 

Staff at S&S signed an open letter stating that their employers have “chosen complicity in perpetuating white supremacy by publishing Pence”

The letter, signed by an unknown number of staff,  said that the former vice-president had “made a career out of discriminating against marginalised groups and denying resources to BIPOC and LGBTQA+ communities”, with demands that the books’ publications are cancelled.

“By choosing to publish Mike Pence, Simon & Schuster is generating wealth for a central figure of a presidency that unequivocally advocated for racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Blackness, xenophobia, misogyny, ableism, islamophobia, antisemitism, and violence.”

“This is not a difference of opinions; this is legitimising bigotry.”

The publisher, however, have stated that “we come to work each day to publish, not cancel”.

“As a publisher in this polarised era, we have experienced outrage from both sides of the political divide and from different constituencies and groups. But we come to work each day to publish, not cancel, which is the most extreme decision a publisher can make, and one that runs counter to the very core of our mission to publish a diversity of voices and perspectives,” wrote S&S president Jonathan Karp.

“We will, therefore, proceed in our publishing agreement with vice-president Mike Pence.”

The employees have also asked the publishing house to not publish books written by former members of the Trump administration, and to halt distribution of books for Post Hill Press– a politically conservative, Christian publisher.

“We impart to you the sad and unfortunate truth that we are actively making history right now,” states the open letter. “People will look back on this one day, and see that through our complicity, we chose to be on what is clearly the wrong side of justice.”