Christian singer Sean Feucht is accusing HarperCollins of “bowing to the mob” in reportedly canceling his book over his political views.
Feucht told The Daily Signal on Tuesday that he had just signed a new book deal with the conservative book publisher Regnery Publishing, saying he had “negotiated even better terms than the broken agreement with Harper Collins.”
“There’s a woke agenda that has infiltrated some of the biggest publishing houses in America that are trying to control the press and the information,” Feucht told The Daily Signal in a phone interview. “And my question to them is, what are you so afraid of?”
Feucht said that he signed an initial deal memo for a book on bold faith with Thomas Nelson, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, in November 2021. In early January, the Christian celebrity said, representatives at the publishing company told him that the book would no longer be published.
An employee at the company reportedly told Feucht that two marketing department employees within the company voiced complaints about working on his book, citing his political views, Feucht said. The Christian celebrity asked that the employee who spoke with him not be named in order not to injure the employee’s standing with the company.
Feucht said he is unsure which of his political views the employees took issue with: he is openly a supporter of both former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, both Republicans, and hosted multiple concerts at the height of the pandemic pushing back against the closure of churches and mask mandates.
A representative for HarperCollins Christian Publishing repeatedly told The Daily Signal that HarperCollins “did not have a signed contract” with Feucht. The representative did not address The Daily Signal’s queries about the two marketing employees.
“Of course they are going to say that,” Feucht said. “They are going to say what they can to weasel their way out.”
Emails reviewed by The Daily Signal provided by Feucht demonstrate that the Christian author had already begun writing the book before the project was canceled. The emails also show that he had discussed the project with HarperCollins employees at length.
“Sean, you’ve been more than patient—and between the holidays and few other factors, lots of projects came to a grinding halt over the past few weeks,” reads a Jan. 3 email in which a HarperCollins employee apologized to Feucht for the lack of a contract. “I can only apologize and say that I’ll be hounding our contracts department now that they’re back in the office.”
In the January email, the HarperCollins employee proposed different titles for the book, including “Bold as Lions: Fearless Living in a Broken World” and “Fearless: Bold Living in a Broken World.” The employee also suggests several different book cover examples.
Feucht’s upcoming book, “Bold: Moving Forward in Faith, Not Fear,” will be published by Salem Books, an imprint of Regnery Publishing. He believes the “pushback from Cancel Culture only validates how needed this message is in our culture today.”
Salem Books Publisher Tim Peterson told The Daily Signal in a Tuesday statement that he is pleased Feucht has decided to trust both Salem Books and Regnery Publishing.
“Feucht has lived out this message in the streets of our cities and in war-torn areas around the world, boldly proclaiming the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of worship,” he said. “We believe in this message so much that we are fast-tracking the publishing process; ‘Bold’ will be available this year in late July.”
This would not be the first time that a publishing company canceled a book over the author’s political views.
In January 2021, Simon and Schuster canceled the publication of a book by Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, a Republican, following accusations that Hawley was complicit in the storming of the U.S. Capitol and that he attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“This could not be more Orwellian,” Hawley said at the time. “Simon & Schuster is canceling my contract because I was representing my constituents, leading a debate on the Senate floor on voter integrity, which they have now decided to redefine as sedition.”
Regnery Publishing also picked up Hawley’s book, “The Tyranny of Big Tech,” which later landed high on both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.
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