James Patterson apologizes after backlash over comments about racism against older white men
"I absolutely do not believe that racism is practiced against white writers," Patterson wrote
Aux News Patterson
James Patterson has issued an apology after comments he made during a conversation with The Times received significant backlash. In the interview, the novelist said that older white men experience “another form of racism” in Hollywood and the publishing industry.
Patterson shared the apology on his Twitter account on Tuesday, writing, “I apologize for saying white male writers having trouble finding work is a form of racism. I absolutely do not believe that racism is practiced against white writers. Please know that I strongly support a diversity of voices being heard—in literature, in Hollywood, everywhere.”
In the Times interview, Patterson discussed the difficulty he believed his peers experience while seeking jobs in the entertainment or publishing industries.
“What’s that all about?” Patterson questioned. “Can you get a job? Yes. Is it harder? Yes. It’s even harder for older writers. You don’t meet many 52-year-old white males.”
Later on in the same interview, he also lamented the 2020 walkout that staffers at his publisher Little, Brown and Company staged in protest of the release of Woody Allen’s memoir. “I hated that,” Patterson said, referring to the walkout. “[Allen] has the right to tell his own story.”
Patterson is currently on a book tour for his upcoming memoir James Patterson: The Stories of My Life, billed as a story answering the question: “How did a kid whose dad lived in the poorhouse become the most successful storyteller in the world?”
Patterson, who has seen about a dozen of his thriller novels adapted into successful films, was most recently estimated to be worth $800 million. His most recent thriller Run, Rose, Run, which he co-wrote with Dolly Parton, is currently in the process of being made in into a film alongside Reese Witherspoon’s company production company Hello, Sunshine.
97 Comments
Would not have pegged James Patterson as an AV Club reader LOL. Good on him for having the good sense to defuse this tempest in a teapot before it got worse.
He has a lot of time on his hands lately…not writing and all.
he’s *not* writing? because it seems like he’s at least “co-author” on like 50 things per year lately.
Ghostwriters do the work, he provides the name for sales (and gets the credit). Well before this news story came to light, he’s been well-known in the book world for YEARS as a lazy hack.
Very convincing hair dye.“How did a kid whose dad lived in the poorhouse become the most successful storyteller in the world?”Get struggling writers to do the work writing hundreds of books in severely shitty contracts while you keep all the royalties? You know, the old Horatio Alger method.
Horatio Alger and Alexander Dumas. The greats.
Also Drake
Also Hans Zimmer.
You’re not kidding. Heard an earful from an extremely grumpy cello player once about those “sampling sessions.”
Yeah, he’s less of an author and more of a brand now.
There’s arguably an analogy here with the old renaissance masters’ workshops. And just because he’s set up whatever system he has doesn’t mean it’s not impressive or inspiring (we can appreciate stories like these without fetishizing them, can’t we?) that he overcame a childhood of poverty to become undeniably successful at facilitating the creation of stories.
But full disclosure this is coming from someone who hasn’t read any Patterson because I’ve judged the books by their covers as likely dogshit.
He looks like Mitch McConnell and Strom Thurmond tried out Seth Brundle’s teleportation pods.
Or a much older Matthew Lilard.
“Get struggling writers to do the work writing hundreds of books in severely shitty contracts while you keep all the royalties?”
He was one of the world’s best-selling authors before he ever did that.
Oh, and his co-writers are VERY WELL PAID. Do you think Dolly motherfucking Parton did this book for peanuts?You are truly fucking stupid.
We called it the James Michener method in our house.
I have two questions:1. I assume he started out writing his own material. Does anyone know at what point he started using “assistants”, and roughly when he started relying exclusively on those “assistants”?2. Does he really read everything published with his name? If one of his “assistants” wrote in a greedy, credit-stealing asshat named Pat Jameson as a bit character, would he notice?
First published novel was 1979. First collab was in 1996. Went hardcore with the co-author thing in 2000 when the Women’s Murder Club Series took off. For the second question, at this point in his career I would assume as long as the check clears, he wouldn’t care one way or the other.
Also is the poorhouse a real thing? Is that a place people can live? Do they still exist or is this an olden times thing?
A common phrase for an older generation. Just means poor.
Yeah I had only ever heard it said that someone was “in the poor house,” not “living in the poorhouse,” so I didn’t know if I had missed something where it was once real but then became only metaphorical. Bah!
Look, people, he just wants to apologise and move on so he can get back to not writing.
That tweet is the most this dude has written since primary school.
OOOF!
“How did a kid whose dad lived in the poorhouse become the most successful storyteller in the world?”
Who are we talking about here? James Patterson is not the most successful storyteller in the world, or at least not as far as I know.
I haven’t read any Patterson and don’t really plan to, but I’m guessing you don’t have to stretch very hard to come up with definitions of “successful” and “storyteller” for which he comes out on top.
He’s not the best selling author of all time or even among living authors. If he was Stephen King, JK Rowling or Danielle Steel, sure, but he’s not even close. I’m not sure how else you can define ‘successful’ in terms of authors.
“most number of books branded but not written”
Yeah, he doesn’t even win that. Ann M. Martin stopped writing the Baby-Sitters Club books after the first 35 novels and there’s like 200+ titles all together.
He has won the Most Successful Novelist award at the Patties for 45 straight years.
The annual Patties ceremony takes place in his living room.
I keep nominating myself for that one but every year I get rejected.Now I know why.
He is the world’s best-selling author. You can argue the semantics if you’re really such a sad, pathetic loser, or you can accept facts.
It’s the marketing blurb
I absolutely do not believe that racism is practiced against white writers.He “does not”? Oh, but he did, didn’t he? As recent as two days ago. And he probably would still, if his words had been taken the way he thought they’d be taken.So when he says he doesn’t now, why should we believe him?
No, he’s admitting he was wrong.
How about you accept it and fuck off. You know, as if this had NOTHING to do with you at all?
He’s got Old Timers.
“Patterson went on to say that Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being he’s ever known in his life.”
when has it ever been easy for a 52 year old person to get any job? c-suite aside.
“How did a kid whose dad lived in the poorhouse cram his head so far and firmly up his own ass?”
Just goes to show that you can do anything with enough perseverance and a big enough asshole.
Its funny, in that picture he actually looks like an older woman.
Always glad to see someone who at least listens to his PR team. Now if he’d only apologize for defending a pedophile.
“Now if he’d only apologize for defending a pedophile.”
Yeah, he should apologize for saying people should be allowed access to typewriters.
When are you going to apologize for being a fucking cunt?
He’s not wrong that you meet very few 52 year old white men. But you meet very few 52 year olds, period.In my industry, I’m in my very early 40s, and rarely meet anyone older than me. I’m already in the top 0.5% salary in my company, so I do spend a lot of time concerned about there being little headroom. It’s always a concern meeting few people older than you. When I go to less creative jobs outside of NYC, though, I see far more people in their 50s.That said, the people I meet that are older than me tend to be white men much more often than anything else.
Exact same in my industry. It’s like fucking Logan’s Run (a reference 52+ year olds are most likely to get) once you get past middle management. All the women and PoC are just … gone.
You missed the best part of that meme!BOOOOOO!
I think you’re treating your nostalgia too preciously. I’m 29 and I know what Logan’s Run is. I can’t say I’ve seen it but I know the plot somehow. Honestly it’s up there with “always knowing about soylent green” and “always known about Darth Vader being Lukes father”. Between Family Guy and Simpsons these things get referenced more than you think.
Logan’s run, people don’t live passed age 30, got it.
It was a joke. I didn’t intend to insult your knowledge of mediocre 1970s sci-fi.
It was 21 in the book of Logan’s Run (and the people knew they were being put to death).
Not to be mean but I also do think the the younger generations are sweeping out jobs from senior employees. It’s not some great shame or something to be embarrassed by. It is a literal fact that the generation after us will be superior. We’ve been perfecting existing for centuries now why would we stop now. I even notice it with the generation coming up younger than I already. Happened to my Dad too. Got bumped out of a manager spot by a younger man. It happens.
Someone hasn’t checked out TikTok lately
Younger employees also tend to be cheaper salary wise than older ones.
It may not necessarily be something you’d like to hear but I dare you to say I’m wrong.
I assume by 50 people have figured out that they will never be able to afford to retire on a salary in the publishing industry and have gone to other things.
“I ran out of ideas! Let me blame race when it’s actually ageism I’m talknig about but its neither and I’m sooooo old and tired….” – Patterson
He meant ageism. It’s true for a lot of fields.
I think you’re painting with broad strokes and perhaps it is a little bit more about race. He stated that it bothers him that old white men are having a harder time finding jobs nowadays… which was the case for everyone except white people not that long ago. It is about race to him. He doesn’t realize white people always had it easier when he’s saying that.
I’m pretty sure my other comment is the exact reason his handlers had him immediately apologize for saying that.
I think Patterson is just mad he didn’t get out of the grays on the original article on this.
Even Kinja has writing standards.
He does look like Mitch McConnell’s cousin, so this all makes sense.
“I do not mean the thing that I just recently said and meant until I got pushback, because I lack a backbone”
Osteoporosis is a bitch.
AVClub reaction to Lizzo apologizing for saying ‘Spaz’“Oh, she’s so wonderful, she owned it! Apology accepted of course!”AVClub reaction to James Patterson apologizing,“Go fuck yourself and your $800 million. Apology *denied*”
I think the GFYs are unrelated to the apology. They’re just general GFYs because a lot of people dislike him. I haven’t read any of his books and know little about him so I’m reserving my GFY’s, personally.
Sir, this is the Internet. Reserve nothing.
Lizzo didn’t say how great it was to say “spaz” first
LOL. It’s almost as if cancel culture is a clusterfuck of hypocrites, zealots, and utter morons. The only point is to be mad.But, to be fair, even after Lizzo apologized there were people still mad at her for saying she liked Chris Brown.
The two aren’t comparable, lizzo made a genuine change when she didn’t have to, this guy didn’t.
To be fair, there is a difference between someone using an epithet that most Americans of her and our generation likely had to learn later in life was actually related to insulting the disabled, and the most successful co-writer in the world complaining about a lack of opportunity. I’ve seen a lot of people go “Oh…. OHHH, oh shit, I am so sorry” in relation to that word’s origins being explained to them. Most apologies from white people complaining about racism towards themselves have the feeling of a form letter.
The former could feasibly be connected to honest ignorance. The latter is the kind of up-one’s-own-ass ideology from the American elite hopelessly chasing underdog status that pretty much is running this country into the ground.
So, apologies are only acceptable based on some subjective how-great-was-the-original-sin, then.
idk dude if I killed a baby and then turned around and was like, “sorry I killed that baby randomly” would you accept my immediate apology?
Grow up, Internet Hero(tm). He made a dumb statement, “52 year white guys don’t get a chance. Conflating apologizing for that with apologizing for “sorry I killed the baby” is childish.
Are you a Harvey Weinstein apologist or something…?
Yes
I get the frustration of cancel culture cuz it’s like “people change and learn and grow” etc but that really doesn’t seem like it applies to this circumstance. Dude is old.
Look, your complaints are valid. Maybe we’re not buying Patterson’s apology because we don’t like his books. Maybe we are racist against old white men. But I also have the suspicion that Lizzo might have the emotional and mental flexibility to understand where and why she screwed up while James Patterson’s accountant had to sit down with him to show him some not-so-great book sales projections that might become his terrifying reality if he didn’t at least pretend to say sorry. Now, you can quibble with this contrast I just drew — it’s really not based on too much, and maybe Mr. Patterson’s heart recently grew three sizes — but there you have it. What’s at issue, really, is sincerity. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind if celebrities stopped offering apologies that were obviously insincere. But most Americans probably don’t know where he term “spazz” comes from, while Patterson’s comments are so out-of-pocket that I wouldn’t shocked if he absolutely bought the crap he tried to sell us and that he believes it now. He’s more successful than just about any writer on the planet but would give it all up for, what? To have the cachet he thinks that young black writers have? Dude is not living in reality. That’s why I think his apology is probably mostly Grade-A bullhockey.
Those are suppositions and not really defensible.Using your logic, I thereby have decided that Lizzo apologizing for using the word spaz only came about because her publicist told her she’d better. And I suspect that she she doesn’t possess the emotional and mental flexibility to understand where and why she screwed up until her accountant to sit down with her to show her some not-so-great album sales projections that might become her terrifying reality if she didn’t at least pretend to say sorry.
…see how that can work both ways?
I see what you mean, and I agree that this is a fairly subjective judgment, but life is full of those and I’ll stand by it. This is how we judge people’s motivations, after all, and we do that every time we have to judge whether someone is sincere or telling us the truth or not. If not, we’d be hopelessly naive. But look, it’s enormously possible that Lizzo didn’t realize that the word “spazz” was a real insult, as Americans don’t tend to use the word “spastic” to insult disabled people. It’s also very possible that as a fat black woman, Lizzo has been called a few things that hurt her feelings and understands the power that language can have. Not every fat person or POC has had the same experience, but I can certainly believe that when she says, “oh, damn, shouldn’t have said that,” she might actually mean it. On the other hand, considering that James Patterson has had the sort of career that most writers can only dream of and that it’s unlikely that he’s faced real discrimination in his day-to-day life, I figure that his complaints are pure pointless grievance. There’s a ton of that going around these days, even among people who have very little to complain about. After eight hundred million and fame and fortune, I very much suspect that James Paterson wants to feel special, or persecuted, or put upon. Maybe he feels victimhood is its own kind of privilege. He’d hardly be the first rich, successful person who had a chip on their shoulder. I don’t think he can have it both ways, and disarmingly awkward comment makes me believe that these utterly indefensible sentiments are really what he believes. Can I prove that? No, of course not. Motivations are hard to prove. But that’s a judgment I’m going to make. I’m cool with that.
Apologies are acceptable based on a belief that someone that has made a mistake actually thinks they’ve made a mistake. Most of us have experienced confused, bitter ass white men who aren’t actually sorry for their racism, but have rather found support for their bitterness in having to be “made” to apologize for something they don’t actually understand or don’t think is that big a deal. And I say this as a white man. So yes, he does suffer our mistrust quite a bit by comparison. And so do I! Thems the breaks.
Now, you can argue that we shouldn’t mistrust anyone. Well, a lot of people’s survival depends on that mistrust. James Patterson will still make millions of dollars if he loses the benefit of the doubt from certain folks. Black people, otoh, need to be very aware of the intent of the Pattersons of this world often not matching their apologies.There’s been a lot of fucking original sins in this country, my dude. Indeed, a lot of CURRENT sins that folks like to pretend are merely original. Ones many of us are still trying to pretend didn’t happen. And we’ll tolerate those folks running from their culpability far more than we will being called out on our tolerance of them. So, yeah, this is something even well-intended white people have to deal with: the shadow of the millions of their brethren who indeed do confuse their personal discomfort with racial animus because they’re privileged to be ignorant to the actual consequences of racism. But if I had to choose a racial burden to bear, between mistrust because of a culture I’ve suborned and profited from, or literally increased chances of death and misery? Yeah, I’d pick that in a millisecond.
So, boo-fucking-hoo, Jimmy. For both the original complaint and the mistrust of the apology. Don’t sound like a bitter old white guy if you don’t want to be called a bitter old white guy. And I’m quite comfortable with that response. Could you be a little more explicit with why you’re uncomfortable with it? The terseness of the replies feels like you’re presuming the obviousness of your stance here.
My point was, and remains, that AVClub is picking and choosing which apologies to accept based on purely subjective criteria. It’s not that difficult to get that.
Sure. But most folks pick and choose which apologies to accept based on purely subjective criteria, save some Tibetan ascetics and some very wealthy people whose power insulates them enough from the sorrows of the world that it allows them to easily pretend towards the same equanimity.
I provided, I think, a reasonable understanding of the AV Club’s subjective criteria and an argument why that subjective criteria is fine. I’d love to hear what bad or false pretenses that you instead think led to their conclusions. Otherwise, by focusing on the mere picking and choosing, it seems you’re simply complaining that they’re people.
Which of course makes sense for a Kryptonian, especially one that would prefer we all kneel to them. Apologies if we live down to your expectations.
The moral of the story is “wah! I’m white and I’m mad because ten years ago it was super easy for me to rise in ranks professionally but all of these ethnic people are suddenly getting the same opportunities I’ve always had, wah!”
That is the absolute jist of what he initially said.
Even I as a younger white man have experienced this frustration but I didn’t react this way because I’m not of an older generation. I’m an actor and a few years ago a lot of casting calls started specifically asking for white men not to audition for leading roles in stage performances. It was a bit jarring and I just had to sorta breathe and be like “it’s about being the most talented” etc.
Specifically I read a casting notice for a role I thought I was well suited for and at the very bottom it said “seeking a Trevor Noah type” which was white boomer employers way of saying “not a white guy thanks, a palatable-to-white-audiences POC male”
Well like he said a stupid thing and then within 24 hours apologized. It’s pretty obvious his handlers just… told him to apologize because he didn’t realize the ridiculousness of what he said.
It definitely doesn’t read as a genuine apology it’s not that he’s gone and wept and thought deeply about what he said people were just like “ummm no stop right there you’re going to get cancelled.” For all we know he still doesn’t fully understand why what he said sucked so hard.
Ah yes all things are indeed exactly the same. Good job by you.
I absolutely do not believe in the exact thing that I said yesterday! You can’t hold me accountable for the things I say, it’s not that I make a living with formulating ideas.
He was on two episodes of Castle, playing himself, in the poker games that Castle & other authors (Michael Connelly & Stephen J Cannell I think being the others) played & discussed his cases. They really phased those out of the show early on, I wonder how much it had to do with him being a jackass
You’d think an author would realize that the word “racism” doesn’t mean just any form of prejudice and would then find an appropriate term such as “ageism” with little effort, discovering in the process that his demographic cohort actually suffers it among the least of all groups. You’d be wrong though.
If he didn’t believe it, I don’t know why he said it in the first place.
He’s trying out vlogging as opposed to writing?
Wait, is he still cancelled? Because I don’t see a single solitary comment even mildly praising his apology. You gotta love woke twitter mobs. “We demand and apology!” Oh, you apologized? “Well, we don’t accept it!”It’s completely pointless to apologize for anything. It satisfies no one.
Seeing this headline was easily my biggest LOL moment of the day. Perfect.