Screenshot via Fox News
- Fox News host Tucker Carlson attacked his own publisher in the opening pages of his new book.
- Carlson described the publisher's president as a "cartoonish corporate censor."
- Carlson criticized the publisher over its decision to cancel Sen. Josh Hawley's book earlier this year.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson did not mince words in the opening pages of his new book, in which he targeted his own publisher, Simon & Schuster.
The conservative commentator used his book's "acknowledgement" section, a space often dedicated to publicly recognize and thank everyone who helped the author, to attack his publisher's president and CEO, Jonathan Karp.
"I'd like to acknowledge Jonathan Karp of Simon & Schuster, whose descent from open-minded book editor to cartoonish corporate censor mirrors the decline of America itself. It's been a sad education watching it happen," Carlson wrote in his new book, "The Long Slide: Thirty Years in American Journalism." The Washington Post first reported the comments.
Carlson continued to slam Simon & Schuster in his introduction, rehashing when the publisher ended its book contract with Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri in the aftermath of the Capitol insurrection on January 6.
A day after the riot, the major publishing corporation decided to cancel its release of Hawley's forthcoming book, "The Tyranny of Big Tech," after "his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom," the company said. Hawley was among dozens of Republican lawmakers who objected to the certification of the 2020 election results on January 6 and was accused of helping incite the mob that later stormed the Capitol.
Carlson has regularly defended the senator on his nightly Fox News show and did so again in his book, writing: "None of Hawley's behavior on January 6 seemed especially controversial."
Upset by Simon & Schuster's cancelation of Hawley's book, Carlson said he reached out to Karp and the publisher's senior vice president, Dana Canedy, for further explanation.
"This seemed like a worrisome standard to me-not to mention unintentionally hilarious-and I said so," Carlson wrote in his book. "'You can see why this would make people who believe in free expression and the intellectual life of the country nervous, can't you?'" he asked the publisher's executives during a Zoom call, per the book.
"No," Canedy replied, according to the book. "I can't. I actually can't."
"It's a business decision, Tucker," Karp said, per the book.
"The explanation was absurd," Carlson wrote in his book.
Hawley soon made a deal with a conservative publisher, Regnery Publishing, to release his book after Simon & Schuster dropped him. The book came out in May.
Carlson also called out Simon & Schuster's cancelation of far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos' book in 2017 after he made controversial comments about pedophilia.
In the past year Simon & Schuster has published explosive books by former President Donald Trump's niece Mary Trump, former national security advisor John Bolton, and veteran journalist Bob Woodward.
Simon & Schuster is set to publish a memoir in 2023 by former Vice President Mike Pence. Hundreds of the publisher's employees disputed the deal and petitioned against it, arguing that publishing Pence's book would be "legitimizing bigotry." Yet Karp dismissed the petition, Fox News reported.
Simon & Schuster did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.