Publishing house Simon & Schuster has praised Milo Yiannopoulos as an “articulate” critic of political correctness in a robust defense of his upcoming book.
The organisation spoke out in a letter sent to other authors who were horrified to find themselves stablemates of the internet’s most controversial provocateur.
CEO Carolyn Reidy praised Yiannopoulos after a liberal backlash at his $250,000 fee from the S&S subsidiary Threshold Imprints, with celebrities leading a movement to get the book cancelled.
When the deal was announced Heat Street noted that Simon & Schuster, a division of CBS, was an unusual home for Breitbart employee Yiannopoulos, and has upset some staff.
Nonetheless, Reidy backed her decision in the letter, which was made public Monday night by BuzzFeed News.
The message promised that his book, Dangerous, would be a “a substantive examination of the issues of political correctness and free speech”, and wouldn’t contain the “hate speech” or incitements to violence that his critics fear.
She continued:
In considering this project, the imprint believed that an articulate discussion of these issues, coming from an unconventional source like Mr. Yiannopoulos, could become an incisive commentary on today’s social discourse that would sit well within its scope and mission, which is to publish works for a conservative audience.
Yiannopoulos – as ever – has delighted in the opposition his book deal provoked, which briefly propelled it to be the best-selling title on Amazon.
