Ronan Farrow blasted his publisher, Hachette, on Tuesday over its acquisition of Woody Allen memoir “Apropos of Nothing” and announced he’ll no longer work with the company.
Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, announced Monday that it had acquired the memoir a year ago and will release it on April 7. “The book is a comprehensive account of his life, both personal and professional, and describes his work in films, theater, television, nightclubs, and print,” Grand Central Publishing said.
Hachette had published Farrow’s “Catch and Kill” last October, which recounted the difficulties he faced in pursuing allegations of sexual abuse leveled against high-profile figures like Harvey Weinstein and Allen. Farrow, the son of Allen, won a Pulitzer Prize for his 2017 reporting at the New Yorker on Weinstein.
Farrow said Tuesday, “I was disappointed to learn through press reports that Hachette, my publisher, acquired Woody Allen’s memoir after other major publishers refused to do so and concealed the decision from me and its own employees while we were working on ‘Catch and Kill’ — a book about how powerful men, including Woody Allen, avoid accountability for sexual abuse.”
Farrow alleged that Hachette had not fact-checked Allen’s book. The memoir was rejected by multiple publishing houses after allegations that the famous director sexually abused his then-7-year-old adopted daughter Dylan Farrow in 1992 made headlines again. Dylan Farrow has stood by her claims and Allen has denied the accusations.
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Dylan Farrow released a statement Monday after the announcement, saying, “Hachette’s publishing of Woody Allen’s memoir is deeply upsetting to me personally and an utter betrayal of my brother whose brave reporting, capitalized on by Hachette, gave voice to numerous survivors of sexual assault by powerful men. For the record, I was never contacted by any fact checkers to verify the information in this ‘memoir.’ “
Ronan Farrow said in his statement that Hachette had been “wildly unprofessional” and had shown “a lack of ethics and compassion” for victims of sexual abuse.
He also said he had urged Hachette to conduct a fact check on Allen’s account and added, “I’ve also told Hachette that a publisher that would conduct itself in this way is one I can’t work with in good conscience.”
See his full statement below.