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Ronan Farrow supports his sister’s allegations against their father
An American publishing house has canceled its intention to publish a memoir of Woody Allen, the award-winning director accused of sexual abuse.
Hachette Book Group (HBG) acted on Friday the day after employees staged a strike in New York and Boston to protest the publication.
Allen’s son and daughter, Ronan and Dylan Farrow, had condemned the deal.
Journalist Farrow wrote a book for HBG last year on how powerful men avoid being punished for fault.
Farrow attacks publisher over Allen’s memoirs
Mr. Farrow is Allen’s son with actress Mia Farrow.
Her foster sister, Dylan Farrow, accused Allen of sexually abusing her in 1992 when she was seven years old. He denies the claim, which was investigated at the time but did not give rise to any criminal charges.
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Dylan Farrow with his mother Mia in 2016
What did the publisher say?
HBG spokesperson Sophie Cottrell said the decision to write Allen’s autobiography – Apropos of Nothing – “difficult”.
“At HBG, we take our relationships with authors very seriously and don’t cancel books lightly. We have published and will continue to publish many difficult books,” she added.
She said that listening sessions were held with staff members, which led the publisher to “conclude that publication would not be possible”.
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The publishing house also plans to return the rights to Allen, the statement added.
The Oscar-winning director has written and directed cult classics including Annie Hall and Manhattan.
Allen lost a four-movie contract to Amazon last November after an interview in which he defended the disgraced Hollywood tycoon Harvey Weinstein, who was convicted last month of two sexual assaults.
How did the controversy over the book begin?
The rights to the books appear to have been acquired by HBG last year, but the news of their release in April only came this week.
Dylan Farrow released a scathing statement on Monday, accusing Hachette of having betrayed one of the perpetrators, his brother Ronan Farrow, whose book on Weinstein’s allegations, Catch and Kill, was published by HBG in October 2019.
“The publication by Hachette of the memoirs of Woody Allen is deeply moving for me personally and a total betrayal of my brother whose courageous report, capitalized by Hachette, gave voice to many survivors of sexual assault by powerful men”, she wrote.
“This provides yet another example of the deep privilege that power, money and notoriety confer. Hachette’s complicity in this regard should be called for what it is and they should be held accountable for it.”
Mr. Farrow also released a statement, accusing HBG of hiding the book agreement with him and his staff.
