Mike Pence 's book deal with Simon & Schuster will go on as planned, the WSJ reported.- The company's employees had pushed for the book deal to be canceled.
- The publisher shut down the effort. The book will hit stands in 2023.
Former Vice President Mike Pence's book deal is still intact after an internal effort to cancel its publication was shut down, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
Publisher Simon & Schuster announced on April 7 that it would release an autobiography by Pence in 2023. Soon afterward, employees at the company circulated petitions urging the publisher to cancel the book deal.
"By choosing to publish Mike Pence, Simon & Schuster is generating wealth for a central figure of a presidency that unequivocally advocated for racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Blackness, xenophobia, misogyny, ableism, islamophobia, antisemitism, and violence," one online petition read, per The Journal. "This is not a difference of opinions; this is legitimizing bigotry."
The effort was unsuccessful. Simon & Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp said Tuesday that the book will go ahead as planned, WSJ reported.
"As a publisher in this polarized era, we have experienced outrage from both sides of the political divide and from different constituencies and groups," Karp wrote in a letter to employees, according to the WSJ. "But we come to work each day to publish, not cancel, which is the most extreme decision a publisher can make, and one that runs counter to the very core of our mission to publish a diversity of voices and perspectives."
Simon & Schuster made headlines in January for its swift decision to cancel publication of Texas Sen. Josh Hawley's upcoming book after he challenged the 2020 presidential election results.
Hawley, an ardent supporter of former President
"After witnessing the disturbing, deadly insurrection that took place on Wednesday in Washington, DC, Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel publication of Senator Josh Hawley's forthcoming book, THE TYRANNY OF BIG TECH," a statement from the company said. Hawley decried the move as a "direct assault on the First Amendment."
Pence's once-close relationship with Trump soured after the former vice president refused to overturn the election results. Pence had told Trump that he didn't have the power to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's win. Trump attacked Pence on Twitter on January 6 as swaths of his supporters began to breach the Capitol. The two did not speak for several days afterward.
Pence's book will focus on his experiences as vice president, from the 2016 campaign trail to Biden's inauguration day in 2021.