The former editor of the right-wing news site Breitbart, Milo Yiannopolous, has filed a USD10 million lawsuit against Simon & Schuster US for “wrongfully, and in bad faith” terminating its contract with him for his book Dangerous which he has now self-published.
The publisher argues that the manuscript Yiannopolous delivered was unacceptable.
According to the author’s lawyers, the turn of events was caused by the author’s appearance on a radio programme where he made some comments that publisher deemed morally offensive. Some are of the view that S&S was worried about the bad publicity they would attract if they went ahead with the book’s publication.
It is unclear whether the case will come to trial. Yiannopolous considers the current media attention good for spiking up sales of his self-published title. Simon & Schuster may be forced to settle out of court because a public trial will expose their thinking on why it signed this controversial author in the first place, and then retract.
An out of court settlement will settle the dust quickly – something S&S most desires according to observers. Meanwhile, Yiannopolous must be using every possible tactic to keep the pressure on the publisher, and his book a desired possession.
