216 employees demand Simon & Schuster cut ties with Trump administration authors
Former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, after the inauguration of President Joe Biden on Jan. 20. Photo: Melina Mara via Pool/Getty Images
216 Simon & Schuster employees and over 3,500 outside supporters submitted a petition on Monday to senior executives asking the company to stop publishing books from figures linked to the Trump administration, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Driving the news: The petition demands the company sever ties with former Vice President Mike Pence, who signed a two-book deal ahead of a possible 2024 presidential campaign.
- The 216 employees represent roughly 14% of the company's workforce. Prominent Black writers, including award-winning author Jesmyn Ward, were among the outside supporters.
- Pence's memoir is expected to publish by 2023 and will serve as a reflection of his four years in the White House. The petition asks Simon & Schuster executives not to treat “the Trump administration as a ‘normal’ chapter in American history," per the Journal.
What they're saying: “When S&S chose to sign Mike Pence, we broke the public’s trust in our editorial process, and blatantly contradicted previous public claims in support of Black and other lives made vulnerable by structural oppression," the petition says, according to the Journal.