Date: April 25, 2008
Phone: 310/477-6842
E-Mail: jwc6774@roadrunner.com
PRESS RELEASE
Los Angeles - Twenty-year Los Angeles-based securities/entertainment attorney,
author and lecturer John Cones today accused New York Publisher Peter
Lang, the publisher's Managing Director, Chris Myers, and Acquisitions
Editor, Mary Savigar, of dishonest bullying tactics and other disreputable
business practices as the publisher sought to force Cones to remove a small
amount of language from his most recent book (contracted to be published by Peter
Lang) which the publisher alleged to be "anti-Semitic" but
failed to show the language was anything more than bona fide criticism of the
business practices of the Hollywood establishment.
Cones, the author of five other published books
about the film industry, including Hollywood Wars: How Insiders Gained
and Maintain Illegitimate Control Over the Film Industry (Marquette
Books, 2007), claims that not only did Peter Lang fail to
demonstrate that the language was actually anti-Semitic, they did not even make
any effort to do so. They simply said
'we think the language is anti-Semitic and it has to be removed or the book
will not be published.' Cones tried to
get the publisher to explain exactly what language they thought was
"anti-Semitic," to share with him which of the many available
authoritative definitions of anti-Semitism they were using and how such
specific language actually exhibited all of the required elements of such a
definition -- but they refused to even discuss the substance of the matter with
him.
Cones believes the actions of the publisher's
employees were both highly unethical and dishonest while partly designed to
protect American film students all across the country (one of the target
audiences for the book) from learning the truth about Hollywood, before they
make a decision that might result in a waste of their professional lives,
since, as Cones says: "nepotism, cronyisn, favoritism and other forms of
reverse discrimination are common in the film industry". In addition, he says the publisher's actions
amount to another use of the anti-Semitic sword (the affirmative
use of the false allegation of anti-Semitism designed to distract from the truth)
which has also been used in Hollywood over the years to squelch criticism. He
said that in the book which was to be
entitled: Motion Pictures: A Complete Guide to the Industry, in a
chapter discussing problems with the Hollywood-based film industry, he simply
pointed out that the most accurate description of the Hollywood control group
for more than one hundred years is that they are "politically liberal, not
very religious, Jewish males of European heritage". He further cited at least thirty books and
articles in support of that view which he also claims is not really new
information. He has simply been more
precise than other
authors in describing who runs Hollywood.
He further contends that there is nothing anti-Semitic about disclosing
factual information. In fact, he asked
the publisher to demonstrate that any statement made in the book was false and
again they did not respond to the challenge; instead they simply refused to
publish the book.
The ENTIRE TRANSCRIPT OF E-MAILS exchanged
between Cones and Peter Lang's
Savigar and Myers showing what Cones believes is a consistent pattern of
irresponsible behavior on the part of the publisher and its employees has been
posted on the Internet at:
http://www.homevideo.net/FIRM/rotten1.htm
A SUMMARIZING ARTICLE appears at:
http://www.homevideo.net/FIRM/rotten2.htm
The BOOK in its final draft stages, with the
final editorial corrections provided by Cones, is also available to reporters
(and other publishers) upon request.
Source of this PRESS RELEASE:
http://www.homevideo.net/FIRM/25apr08.htm
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