Prolific novelist James Patterson issued a public apology Tuesday after feedback he made throughout a newspaper interview drew fierce criticism.
In an article printed Sunday by The Sunday Instances, Patterson speaks about how white male writers are victims of “racism,” particularly older white males.
Patterson expressed concern “that it’s exhausting for white males to get writing gigs in movie, theatre, TV or publishing,” as paraphrased by The Sunday Instances.
The paper quoted him as saying that this alleged exclusion of white males is “simply one other type of racism. What’s that every one about?”
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“Are you able to get a job? Sure. Is it tougher? Sure. It’s even tougher for older writers. You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males,” Patterson instructed the outlet.
His feedback instantly drew ire from racialized writers who spoke about how tough it’s for them to land guide offers.
Frederick Joseph, New York Instances best-selling writer of The Black Good friend and Patriarchy Blues, tweeted that he has had white editors reject his novels as a result of they “have already got Black male authors.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Patterson shared his apology on social media.
“I apologize for saying white male writers having bother discovering work is a type of racism. I completely don’t imagine that racism is practiced towards white writers,” he wrote. “Please know that I strongly assist a variety of voices being heard—in literature, in Hollywood, in all places.”
Patterson is without doubt one of the world’s most profitable authors, having printed greater than 200 books and promoting round 450 million copies of his work. One among his hottest collection centres round Alex Cross, a black detective, and has been tailored a number of instances into films. Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry have each portrayed Alex Cross in movie adaptions.
In 2020, The New York Instances did an evaluation of seven,124 books and located that 95 per cent of books written between 1950 and 2018 have been written by white individuals. In 2018, white individuals wrote 89 per cent of books.
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