https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5bv3x/penguin-random-house-staff-confront-publisher-about-new-jordan-peterson-book
Penguin Random House Staff Confront Publisher About New Jordan Peterson Book
During a tense town hall, staff cried and expressed dismay with the publishing giant's decision to publish 'Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life.'
Several Penguin Random House Canada employees confronted management about the company’s decision to publish a new book by controversial Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson at an emotional town hall Monday, and dozens more have filed anonymous complaints, according to four workers who spoke to VICE World News.
On Monday, Penguin Random House Canada, Canada’s largest book publisher and a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, announced it will be publishing Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life by Peterson, to be released in March 2021. The book will be published by Portfolio in the U.S. and Penguin Press in the U.K., both part of the Penguin Random House empire.
Four Penguin Random House Canada employees, who did not want to be named due to concerns over their employment, said the company held a town hall about the book Monday, during which executives defended the decision to publish Peterson while employees cited their concerns about platforming someone who is popular in far-right circles.
“He is an icon of hate speech and transphobia and the fact that he’s an icon of white supremacy, regardless of the content of his book, I’m not proud to work for a company that publishes him,” a junior employee who is a member of the LGBTQ community and who attended the town hall told VICE World News.
Another employee said “people were crying in the meeting about how Jordan Peterson has affected their lives.” They said one co-worker discussed how Peterson had radicalized their father and another talked about how publishing the book will negatively affect their non-binary friend.
“The company since June has been doing all these anti-racist and allyship things and them publishing Peterson’s book completely goes against this. It just makes all of their previous efforts seem completely performative,” the employee added.
A third employee told VICE World News the company’s diversity and inclusion committee received at least 70 anonymous messages about Peterson’s book, and only a couple are in favour of the decision to publish it.
In an email statement, Penguin Random House Canada said it is open to its employees’ feedback.
“We announced yesterday that we will publish Jordan Peterson’s new book Beyond Order this coming March. Immediately following the announcement, we held a forum and provided a space for our employees to express their views and offer feedback. Our employees have started an anonymous feedback channel, which we fully support. We are open to hearing our employees’ feedback and answering all of their questions. We remain committed to publishing a range of voices and viewpoints,” the statement said.
The company did not answer any of the specific questions sent by VICE World News.
Peterson, 58, a University of Toronto professor of psychology turned anti-political correctness crusader, first ignited international controversy in September 2016, when he posted a lecture to YouTube stating he refused to use gender neutral pronouns for students and condemning Bill C-16, legislation that increased protections for trans and non-binary Canadians.
He quickly became popular in right-wing and libertarian circles across the globe, becoming a regular guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast. He amassed 3.25 million YouTube followers, who tuned into his lectures on why white privilege isn’t real, and how masculinity is under attack. At one point he was making $80,000 a month on Patreon. His book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, included instructions like “stand up straight with your shoulders back” and “set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world,” and sold more than 5 million copies worldwide, according to Penguin Random House.
The Penguin Random House Canada employees said the company was secretive about releasing Peterson’s new book; one said the title didn’t appear in an internal database that normally includes all future books.
“I feel it was deliberately hidden and dropped on us once it was too late to change course,” said the junior employee who is a member of the LGBTQ community. The employee said workers would have otherwise considered a walkout, similar to what Hachette employees did when the publisher announced it would be publishing Woody Allen’s memoir; Hachette later dropped the book.