Simon & Schuster Employees Demand Publisher Stop Working With Former Trump Staffers

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More than 200 employees at Simon & Schuster are asking the publishing giant to stop working with former Trump administration staffers.

Employees submitted a petition on Monday containing 216 signatures demanding the company stop publishing books from members of former President Donald Trump’s administration. The petition claims the company treated “the Trump administration as a ‘normal’ chapter in American history,” according to copy obtained by The Wall Street Journal. The brouhaha follows a thus-far unsuccessful effort by the employees to cancel a deal to publish former Vice President Mike Pence’s two-part autobiography.

“We come to work each day to publish, not cancel, which is the most extreme decision a publisher can make,” S&S President Jonathan Karp told staff last week about Pence’s book deal. He said canceling it would run “counter to the very core of our mission to publish a diversity of voices and perspectives.”

The development comes three months after critics successfully convinced the company to cancel a deal to publish Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) book, The Tyranny of Big Tech.

“After witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place … in Washington, D.C., Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel publication of Hawley’s forthcoming book,” the company wrote at the time. “We take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.”

Woke mob pressuring Simon & Schuster to cancel more books. Head of S&S replies, “We come to work to publish, not to cancel.” ? Since when? Order here the book Simon & Schuster tried to cancel! https://t.co/CUHpkvMIrI

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) April 21, 2021

That book is scheduled for publication next month under Regnery Publishing’s imprimatur. Responding to the latest controversy, Hawley opined in a message on Twitter last week, “Woke mob pressuring Simon & Schuster to cancel more books. Head of S&S replies, ‘We come to work to publish, not to cancel.’ Since when?”

Simon & Schuster has declined to comment on the new petition.