James Patterson, whose popular books have made him a staple on the USA TODAY best selling books list for years, is reflecting on his lengthy writing career – and how he believes white men are struggling lately to get hired in the entertainment industry.
Speaking with The Sunday Times in an interview published over the weekend, Patterson lamented white men struggling to find writing jobs in film, theater, TV and publishing industries as “just another form of racism.”
“What’s that all about?” he continued. “Can you get a job? Yes. Is it harder? Yes. It’s even harder for older writers. You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males.”
The 75-year-old author also griped with the uproar over Woody Allen’s 2020 memoir, which was pulled from publisher Hatchette Book Group after employees walked out of work in protest. Less than a month later, the memoir found a new home and was published by Arcade Publishing.
“The decision to cancel Mr. Allen’s book was a difficult one. At HBG we take our relationships with authors very seriously, and do not cancel books lightly. We have published and will continue to publish many challenging books,” Sophie Cottrell, a spokesperson for Hatchette said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY at the time. “As publishers, we make sure every day in our work that different voices and conflicting points of views can be heard.”
“I hated that,” Patterson said of the publishing house pulling Allen’s book. “He has the right to tell his own story.”
He added: “I’m almost always on the side of free speech.”
