On Monday, many writers took to social media to express their feelings about Simon & Schuster's decision to cancel Milo Yiannopoulous's book after he was accused of defending pedophilia.
J.K. Rowling shared a classic xkcd comic about free speech.
👇🏻
Roxane Gay, who had pulled her book from Simon & Schuster over its decision to publish Yiannopoulous, said the publisher did not "finally do the right thing" and that she still would not be publishing her book with it.
Alexander Chee responded to Gay's statement suggesting that the person at Simon & Schuster who had changed the release date of Yiannopoulous's book to be the same day as Gay's should step down.
Whoever decided to target @rgay this way @simonschuster needs to step down. https://t.co/UiFef7DQdZ
Maureen Johnson retweeted the news with a celebratory confetti emoji.
Mat Johnson pointed out that Simon & Schuster had drawn the line only at pedophilia and not white supremacy.
Does @simonschuster dump the Neo-Nazi now? So publishing a white supremacist is OK, but pedophilia's where white publishing draws the line?
Saeed Jones mentioned how Milo had been trolling his Facebook page about the book deal.
Milo has been trolling my FB page since December, bragging that he got a bigger book deal than me (he didn’t) so this is… quite a day.
Note: Saeed Jones is an employee of BuzzFeed.
Jen Ashley Wright made a joke about Milo being called a provocateur in headlines about the news.
What with Milo's book being cancelled, I see there is now a void for a "provacteur" to give 250K to. So I'll just say it: I love cannibalism
Jason O. Gilbert also made a joke about Simon & Schuster's decision to cancel the book.
Simon & Schuster cancelled Milo's book after he submitted a manuscript that was just the phrase "lmao triggered much???" for 300 pages
Mark Harris called it "the shit hitting the fan."
Rigoberto González said Simon & Schuster shouldn't get a gold star for its "disingenuous posturing."
No, @simonschuster, no ⭐️ for your disingenuous posturing. It will survive its dragging. But how it deals w damage control will be telling.
And when Russell Blackford suggested Simon & Schuster's decision was anti-free-speech, he received hundreds of replies criticizing his tweet.
If a publisher can cancel Milo's book because he said something unpopular in an interview, it can do the same to you or me or any author.
@Metamagician Wait a second… You mean one’s words/actions have consequences? Jesus—what is this world coming to?
@Metamagician wow. a chilling reminder that businesses can do whatever they want with their money