Employees of the publishing house say publishing the memoirs of Mike Pence, a 61-year-old former U.S. president, was legitimizing bigotry. The director of the house that will publish the book says he will move forward with his plans.
Publisher Simon & Schuster has said it will go ahead with its plans and publish the memoirs of former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence despite objections raised by his staff against the book.
In a memorandum sent to employees on Tuesday, CEO Jonathan Karp said the company’s mission was to “publish a diversity of voices and perspectives.”
“Therefore, we will proceed with our publication agreement with (former) Vice President Mike Pence,” he announced.
Simon & Schuster announced earlier this month that Pence had signed an agreement to write an autobiography that will set out in detail his work during the administration of former Republican President Donald Trump.
You may be interested in: Mike Pence has no home of his own and seeks refuge in his friends’ homes
The publisher said it would be a two-book contract, with the first volume tentatively scheduled for publication in 2023.
Two people in the publishing industry said the deal with Pence is worth between $ 3 million and $ 4 million, CNN reported.
The announcement sparked a protest from staff who circulated a petition against it saying the deal meant the publishing house was “legitimizing fanaticism”.
The petition, which does not list the number of signatories, accused Pence of pushing for policies that discriminated against people of color, LGBTQ groups and women.
You may be interested in: 30 data from Mike Pence, Donald Trump’s squire
“Mike Pence has blood, literally and figuratively, on his hands. We demand that Mike Pence’s book contract be canceled,” he notes, according to copies circulating online.
The memoirs, currently untitled, are expected to cover Pence’s faith and public service, including his time as a U.S. congressman, his rise to becoming governor of the state of Indiana and return to Washington as Trump’s number two.
You may be interested in: Pence, the man on the anti-abortion agenda in the US. UU.
Pence, 61, has been largely on the sidelines of politics since he and Trump lost the November election to now-President Democrat Joe Biden.