101 Reasons to Stop Writing

For those who might have missed this, take a deep breath and find a place, internally, to unleash your umbrage:

OJ Simpson was about to publish a book entitled If I Did It, a “hypothetical” analysis of the Simpson-Goldman murders, as if OJ had committed them. From OJ’s point of view. By OJ. To be launched the day after a two-part televised interview with OJ. About how he would have killed them. Had he done it.

Take it easy, there’s more to the story. (Hint: was.)

The publisher was Judith Regan of ReganBooks, an imprint of HarperCollins, which is owned by News Corp., which also owns FOX News, who were to air the interview. (So it’s fair to surmise that a lot of people signed off on this.) She brokered a deal with a “third party” who “owned the rights” to Simpson’s story, a deal which included an advance of $3.5M to go to “his children”.

When the carefully rehearsed news broke, and the uncontrollable controversy followed, Regan issued a statement, simultaneously claiming it was a sting operation, and invoking the Mark Foley defense. Then booksellers revolted, saying they were duped into ordering the book without knowledge of its author or contents. (A rare, but not unprecedented marketing ploy, like a news embargo.)

Now comes the news that, facing negative publicity on a massive scale, Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire tyrant, has cancelled the whole deal.

Whew! Close one, eh?

Now, ordinarily you’d think I’d say something like, “If ever there was someone who should have stopped writing …” (Of course, the book was actually ghostwritten, by someone with the worst job in publishing.)

But on reflection, I have to consider the possibility that publishing an acquitted man’s hypothetical confession may be a new form of criminal justice. One that may prove more effective than the existing one.

There’s something very New Coke about this. Regan is no stranger to controversy, but could she really not see the the fan was facing her before the shit hit? What else is going on?