Ronan Farrow has blasted his publishers Hachette and threatened to part ways with the company after they picked up Woody Allen’s memoir.
The 32-year-old journalist is furious that the filmmaker – whose adopted daughter Dylan has accused him of sexually abusing her when she was seven years old – will have his book ‘Apropos of Nothing’ published by Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette, after "other major publishers" turned down the tome and accused the company of "concealing" their decision from him.
In a statement issued on Twitter, the writer said: "I was disappointed to learn through press reports that Hachette, my publisher, acquired Woody Allen’s memoir after other major publishers refused to do so and concealed the decision from me and its own employees while we were working on ‘Catch and Kill’ – a book about how powerful men, including Woody Allen, avoid accountability for sexual abuse."
Ronan went on to accuse publishers of bring "widely unprofessional" by not bothering to "fact check" Woody’s version of events or ask Dylan for her side of the story, and blasted their lack of "ethics and compassion for victims of sexual abuse".
He continued: "Hachette did not fact check the Woody Allen book.
"My sister Dylan has never been contacted to respond to any denial or mischaracterization of the abuse she suffered at the hands of Woody Allen – a credible allegation, mantained for almost three decades, backed up by contemporaneous accounts and evidence.
"It’s widely unprofessional in multiple obvious directions for Hachette to behave this way.
"But it also shows a lack of ethics and compassion for victims of sexual abuse, regardless of any personal connection or breach of trust here.
"I’ve encouraged Hachette, out of respect for its readers, authors and reputation, to conduct a thorough fact check of Woody Allen’s account, in particular any claim that implies my sister is not telling the truth.
"I’ve also told Hachette that a publisher that would conduct itself in this way is one I can’t work with in good conscience. (sic)"
In her own statement, Dylan, now 34, said she found the news "deeply upsetting" and an "utter betrayal" of her sibling, who has "bravely" reported on sexual assault to give a voice to victims.
She wrote: "Hachette’s publishing of Woody Allen’s memoir is deeply upsetting to me personally and an utter betrayal of my brother whose brave reporting, capitalized on by Hachette, gave voice to numerous survivors of sexual assault by powerful men.
"This provides yet another example of the profound privilege that power, money and notoriety affords.
"Hachette’s complicity in this should be called out for what it is and they should have to answer for it."
In the past two years, the Oscar-winning filmmaker has had to defend himself against the allegation by Dylan.
Though two separate investigations into the allegation against the 84-year-old director were launched in the 1990s, he was never charged with any offence.
Following Ronan’s 2017 reporting on the serious sexual offences carried out on numerous women by disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein over decades, the Time’s Up and #MeToo movements were sparked to encourage women to come forward about their own experiences.
Dylan – whose adoptive mother is Woody’s former partner Mia Farrow – once again felt compelled to talk about what allegedly happened with Allen in support of those movements.
The ‘Blue Jasmine’ filmmaker once again vehemently denied the allegation and accused the Farrow family of "cynically using the opportunity afforded by the Time’s Up movement to repeat this discredited allegation".
In 2014, when Dylan published an open letter in The New York Times alleging that Allen molested her in their attic and accusing Hollywood of turning a "blind eye", her brother Moses accused their mother Mia of concocting the story to get her own back after Allen fell in love with and married Soon-Yi Previn – the adopted daughter of Mia and her second husband Andre Previn.
Moses said: "My mother drummed it into me to hate my father for tearing apart the family and sexually molesting my sister. And I hated him for her for years. I see now that this was a vengeful way to pay him back for falling in love with Soon-Yi."
Ronan Farrow slams his publishers after they picked up Woody Allen’s memoir
