Milo Yiannopoulos' book savaged by Simon & Schuster editor as 'convoluted' and 'phenomenally petty'
Updated
The former editor of Milo Yiannopoulos' autobiography, Dangerous, had described the work as "at best, a superficial work full of incendiary jokes with no coherent or sophisticated analysis of political issues".
The editor's notes, tendered to a New York court as part of an ongoing legal battle between the right-wing writer and his would-be publisher Simon & Schuster, describe the provocateur's work as "egotistical boasting", "lazy", "convoluted" "self-serving" and "phenomenally petty".
Mr Yiannopoulos is suing Simon & Schuster for $US10 million for breach of contract after the publisher cancelled the $US255,000 book deal after Mr Yiannopoulos publicly condoned sexual relationships between men and young boys.
Court documents filed as part of the lawsuit included a full copy of Mr Yiannopoulos' manuscript, complete with editor Mitchell Ivers', often scathing, notes in the margin.
The notes continually ask — eventually with a tone of exasperation — for citations and evidence to back up Mr Yiannopoulos' wide-sweeping claims and chastises him for various throw-away references to hot-button issues that would attract criticism, like abortion.
They include comments such as: "Don't start chapter with accusation that feminists = fat. It destroys any seriousness of purpose."
And: "The use of a phrase like 'two-faced backstabbing bitches' diminishes your overall point."
Mr Ivers' other observations of Mr Yiannopoulos' manuscript include:
- "This is not the time or place for another black-dick joke."
- "Using 'tribalism' in a discussion of black people is just baiting your critics."
- "Unclear, unfunny, delete."
- "The way you casually bring up the KKK makes no sense."
- "Paris Hilton is NOT the best authority to quote here."
- "Three unfunny jokes in a row. DELETE."
"This joke feels OLD," Mr Ivers said of a line saying "women are nagging men to death".
"This is definitely not the [place] for more of your narcissism," Mr Ivers pointed out after Mr Yiannopoulos wrote: "I'm so smart and brilliant."
"DELETE UGH."
Mr Ivers even deletes an entire chapter, titled Why Ugly People Hate Me.
Simon & Schuster's book deal with Mr Yiannopoulos attracted strong criticism and incited boycotts of the publisher.
The Chicago Review of Books vowed not to cover a single book published by Simon & Schuster in 2017. Book shops said they would not stock their titles. And the publisher's children's book authors protested.
Free speech groups defended the publisher's decision not to suppress disfavoured views.
But it appears the manuscript has not lived up to the publisher's expectations.
In a sworn affidavit, Mr Ivers said he and his colleagues were "disappointed with the work".
"It was not the serious and substantial commentary on free speech and political correctness that we discussed," he said.
"Instead, it was a superficial reworking of Mr Yiannopoulos' various speeches where he fed one-liners to crowds and made incendiary comments."
Once the manuscript, complete with the notes, was tendered to the court and in the public domain, people on Twitter began pouring over the manuscript, picking out their favourite of Mr Ivers' observations.
Read the full manuscript, complete with the editor's notes here (graphic language warning).
Topics: books-literature, arts-and-entertainment, united-states
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