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Simon & Schuster defends $250K book deal with Milo Yiannopoulos

the book company says they ‘have never condoned discrimination or hate speech’

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Milo Yiannopoulos, gay news, Washington Blade
Milo Yiannopoulos, gay news, Washington Blade

Milo Yiannopoulos.Ā (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Simon & Schuster is defending its $250,000 book deal with controversial Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Yiannopoulos celebrated that Threshold Editions, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, has struck up a deal for his memoir “Dangerous.”

“They said banning me from Twitter would finish me off. Just as I predicted, the opposite has happened,” Yiannopoulos told The Hollywood Reporter. “Every line of attack the forces of political correctness try on me fails pathetically. I’m more powerful, more influential and more fabulous than ever before, and this book is the moment Milo goes mainstream.”

“Social justice warriors should be scared – very scared,” Yiannopoulos continued.

Simon & Schuster says that the books it publishes reflect the opinions of the authors and not the company.

ā€œWe do not and never have condoned discrimination or hate speech in any form,ā€ the company said in a statement. ā€œAt Simon & Schuster we have always published books by a wide range of authors with greatly varying, and frequently controversial opinions, and appealing to many different audiences of readers. While we are cognizant that many may disagree vehemently with the books we publish we note that the opinions expressed therein belong to our authors, and do not reflect either a corporate viewpoint or the views of our employees.ā€

Backlash against the publishing company has been great with the Chicago Review of Books refusing to cover books from the company in 2017. Others have also spoken out on the decision including comedian and actress Leslie Jones.

Yiannopoulos was banned from Twitter last year for making racist remarks towards Jones.

“Dangerous” hits stores on March 14, 2017 and is already an Amazon Best Seller on the preorder list.

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Books

Tragedy and comedy intertwined in witty ā€˜Quietly Hostile’

Irby’s fourth essay collection addresses pandemic, TV writing career, more

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(Book cover image courtesy of Vintage)

ā€˜Quietly Hostile: Essays’
By Samantha Irby
c.2023, Vintage
$17/304 pages

You know from the get-go that ā€œQuietly Hostile,ā€ essayist, television writer and humorist Samantha Irby’s fourth essay collection, is filled to the brim with the author’s mordant wit, cynicism and empathy. Who else but Irby, 43, who has struggled with depression, would write: ā€œThis book is dedicated to Zoloftā€?

There are zillions of essay collections. But few are as memorable, poignant, funny (sometimes grossly, in a good way) and heart-filled (a term Irby might hate) as ā€œQuietly Hostileā€

This long-awaited collection is filled with what Irby would call ā€œgood shitā€: from hilarious descriptions of her bad dog in doggie day care to bits about, literally, shit, (that will gross you out, but reduce your shame about pooping).

Irby, who is Black and bisexual, grew up in poverty in Evanston, Ill. Her parents died when she was 18 (her mother from multiple sclerosis; her father, who gambled, likely, suffered from post traumatic stress disorder).

At the age of nine, Irby’s mother’s MS went out of remission. While still a child, she was called upon to care for her Mom.

ā€œWhen I was an actual kid growing up on welfare with a sick mom and expired Tuna Helper from the dollar store, the future and its infinite possibilities stretched before me like a sumptuous buffet I couldn’t afford to go to,ā€ Irby writes.

There is a backdrop of pain, sadness and, sometimes, anger to much of Irby’s humor. But  self-pity and rage don’t consume the book.

Irby, the author of ā€œMeaty,ā€ ā€œWe Are Never Meeting in Real Lifeā€ and ā€œWow, No Thank You,ā€ knows that the cliche is true: tragedy and comedy often are often intertwined. 

It’s fun to learn in ā€œQuietly Hostileā€ that Irby, who was a writer for the popular TV shows ā€œShrillā€ and ā€œTuca & Bertie,ā€ is as much a fan as the rest of us of the TV shows she loves.

In 1998, Irby couldn’t afford cable or HBO. She had to wait to watch the ā€œCityā€ until it came out on VHS. ā€œThe show reflected nothing of my life,ā€ she writes, ā€œbut provided something of a road map for my future…ā€ she writes.

In a future, she wouldn’t have dreamed of then, she grew up to become a writer on ā€œAnd Just Like That,ā€ the ā€œSex and the Cityā€ reboot. (She’s a writer on season two of ā€œAnd Just Like Thatā€ which premieres on June 22 on Max.)

Irby was stunned when Michael Patrick King of ā€œAnd Just Like Thatā€ asked her to write for the show. ā€œI was like … Are you allowed to work on a show like this if you only wear nine-dollar T-shirts,ā€ she writes, ā€œand have no idea how many Brooklyns there are.ā€

 ā€œDuring my interview,ā€ Irby jokes, ā€œI said, ā€˜Can I give Carrie diarrhea?’ and I was hired immediately.ā€

Even ardent ā€œSex and the Cityā€ aficionados may find too much of SATC in ā€œQuietly Hostile.ā€

No worries: Irby who speaks of herself as being ā€œfatā€ and ā€œsickā€ (she has arthritis and Crohn’s disease), riffs on many things in ā€œQuietly Hostile.ā€ Irby turns her sharp wit on everything from what it’s like to run for a public toilet when you have diarrhea to why she’s a David Matthew’s fan girl to her love for (approaching addiction to) Diet Coke to the ā€œlast normal dayā€ before the pandemic to the ā€œfood fightsā€ that are a part of the most loving marriages.

Grab a Diet Coke (or libation of your choice), tell your bad dog to quit barking and enjoy ā€œQuietly Hostile.ā€

The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.

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Theater

Arena’s ā€˜Exclusion’ is a piece of art about art

Majority Asian production features intelligent performance by Karoline

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Karoline brings intelligence and energy to every role they tackle.

ā€˜Exclusion’
Through June 25Ā 
Arena Stage
1101 Sixth St., S.W.
$56-95
Arenastage.org

When Asian-American historian Katie’s best-selling book about the racist Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 is optioned for a mini-series by a Hollywood mogul, she couldn’t happier. However, artistic and commercial visions clash and things go awry. This is the premise of Ken Lin’s new comedy ā€œExclusionā€ now at Arena Stage. 

Katie is played by Karoline, the mononymously named New York-based actor who brings intelligence and energy to every role they tackle. 

ā€œI’m similar to Katie — honest to a fault, optimistic, both strong and naĆÆve,ā€ says Karoline, 28. ā€œFor me, the challenge is watching Katie choose yes or no at every turn. Should she address what’s coming at her with truth or not? Or hide what she’s thinking? My struggle in life has been similar. How do I stay true and at the same time get what I want in a corrupt world.ā€

When asked to be part of ā€œExclusion’sā€ early development, Karoline was unsure: Doing a piece of art about art can be tricky. But they soon changed their mind. 

ā€œThe workshop changed my life. I got into the room and it was majority Asian. Seeing Ken [Lin] talk about coming back to theater and about being able to write about Asian people with a play that’s ostensibly a comedy and obviously super personal, drawing from his life and what he’s learned from colleagues.ā€ 

Karoline describes their experience with anti-Asian racism as more microaggressions. ā€œI don’t have people point at me saying ā€˜you’re a chink.’ It’s been subtler versions of that.ā€

As a stage actor, they’ve had an activist history, taking complaints of racism to a company’s board, a move that can be contentious. Typically, it’s preferred actors ā€œbe grateful, listen and interpret, and not speak up.ā€ 

When a respected mentor later asked Karoline whether they wanted to be an actor or an activist, they didn’t understand why it had to be mutually exclusive. ā€œI was too young to say it could be both. Now it depends on the situation. Maybe both in theater because I have more of a career there. But in TV, I don’t know.ā€

Karoline was born in Shanghai and grew up in South Texas where they had little exposure to the arts. After graduation from a pre-med magnet high school (with no intention of a career in medicine), they headed off to Harvard on full scholarship: ā€œI showed my family that I can be smart, but I was going to do my own thing.ā€ 

They took a gap year from Harvard to train at Atlantic Acting School, then went to apprentice at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Weeks after moving to New York they were cast as closeted lesbian Bo in Tom Stoppard’s ā€œThe Hard Problemā€ at Lincoln Center Theater.

ā€œI’ve played more than one lesbian in my career,ā€ says Karoline with a chuckle.  In the fall, they can be seen in the entire first season of ā€œDeath and Other Detailsā€ (Hulu) as a very rich lesbian heiress, a darkly funny role. 

ā€œIt seems when you’re Asian, you’re expected to talk about your parents’ accents or dumplings,ā€ they add. ā€œThe narrative is vivid and bright. I wanted to do classical theater so my work could speak about everything else. From the start, I was ready to do the work, and hoped to have a long career that included many different things.ā€

Not long ago, Karoline shed their surname owing to a difficult childhood and a feeling of estrangement from their family. ā€œIt’s unusual, especially for Asian Americans, but after some self-healing and thinking, I decided I didn’t need it. Now I feel a lot freer.ā€ 

And there have been other changes in addition to their last name including coming out as queer and sharing their gender identity. This is the first year they’ve only used ā€œtheyā€ pronouns. 

ā€œWhen you’re queer, I believe you’re always queer even if you’re not in a queer relationship. I think of my character like that. In this space and time, Katie’s with a man but that doesn’t mean that’s the whole conversation about this person. 

ā€œFor me, playing Katie in ā€˜Exclusion’ has been a huge vote of confidence. Sometimes it takes someone writing something wonderful and casting you for you to know where you need to be.ā€

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Out & About

Mayor’s office to host Pride tie-dye party

Guests to make colorful shirts for ‘PEACE. LOVE. REVOLUTION’ theme

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(Photo by Prime Look/Bigstock)

The Mayor’s Office for LGBTQ Affairs will host ā€œLove Out Loud: Tie Dye Party for Prideā€ on Wednesday, June 7 at 5 p.m. at the Frank D. Reeves Center of Municipal Affairs.

The event, hosted along with the DC Center for the LGBT Community and Capital Pride Alliance, will be an afternoon for community and artistry.Ā Guests are encouraged to bring their creativity to make some colorful tie-dye shirts in line with this year’s Pride theme, ā€œPEACE. LOVE. REVOLUTION.ā€

This event is free to attend and more details are available on Eventbrite.Ā 

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