NEW YORK—Simon and Schuster, one of the big five publishers based in New York, was in negotiation with Republican Missouri Senator Josh Hawley to publish his manuscript, but they dropped his book deal after the riot on the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday, January 6. Hawley’s book, “The Tyranny of Big Tech” was set to released in June.
Hawley is a supporter of former President Donald Trump who has been criticized for challenging the election results and is being accused of inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol building.
Simon and Schuster issued a press release on their website that reads:
“After witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel publication of Senator Josh Hawley’s forthcoming book, THE TYRANNY OF BIG TECH. We did not come to this decision lightly. As a publisher it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints: at the same time, we take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.”
After Hawley was dropped from Simon & Schuster, he went to Twitter accusing the publishing company of infringing upon his freedom of speech saying that “Simon & Schuster is canceling my contract because I was representing my constituents leading a debate on the Senate floor on voter integrity, which they have now decided to redefine as sedition.”
It has been stated that it is harder for Republican politicians to find editors at publishing houses. Tom Spence, the president and publisher at Regnery Publishing, states:
Regnery Publishing, a conservative publishing house based out of Washington, D.C., picked up Hawley’s manuscript which is set to release his book in the spring.
