Fellow Simon and Schuster author condemns Milo Yiannopoulos book deal in searing online post
Best-selling author and former army paratrooper, Bradley Trevor Greive, is livid over publishing house Simon & Schuster's decision to publish alt-right troll Milo Yiannopolous' book Dangerous.
Calling the Breitbart editor a "preening hate-peddler" responsible for spreading "toxic spume ... too disgusting for Twitter," the Australian author of the hugely successful The Blue Day Book slammed Simon & Schuster's decision and said he wasn't alone.
A day after Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones aired similar views, Greive took to Facebook to make his stance public on Tuesday, saying the decision to publish Yiannopolous' words is "nothing more than vulgar opportunism that degrades our industry, this esteemed publishing house and indeed literature as a whole ... To share a printing press with Milo Yiannopoulos cheapens us all."
Greive made it clear that his disgust for the decision was not a matter of censorship, as naysayers might suggest, writing: "Yiannopoulos has unlimited access to far-right and alt-right media outlets. This is purely a commercial decision, and an ill-conceived and wildly irresponsible one at that, with serious cultural ramifications."
The author also used the opportunity to serve the publishing industry a warning "Make no mistake, the great shaming has only just begun: Self-styled 'provocateurs' like Yiannopoulos rely on shock and unforgivable cruelty to attract an audience and we'll soon see this double-headed snake give insidious form to Threshold's [Yiannopolous' publishers, owned by Simon & Schuster] entire marketing plan."
"Deeply compromised integrity and social responsibility"
He continued: "Indeed Carolyn Reidy and Louise Burke are counting on it in order to reap a handsome return on their considerable investment," referring to the umbrella publisher's CEO and the head of Threshold respectively.
"It's one thing to liberate a rat from the sewer," he writes "but it's something else entirely to place its likeness on our coat of arms," said Greive.
Australian news presenter and fellow former author under Simon & Schuster, Richard Morecroft, joined Greive in his condemnation, commenting "The wrong moral decision has been made -- and a respected leader in the publishing community has deeply compromised its integrity and social responsibility."
The world may be in a sorry state, but at least we can always turn to Greive's ever-inspiring The Blue Day Book.
Jerico Mandybur is the editor of Mashable Australia. Previously, she worked as a digital editor at SBS, Oyster Mag, MTV and ASOS. Tweet her at @jerico_m.
