By Dorany Pineda

Los Angeles Times

Hachette Book Group will no longer be publishing Woody Allen’s memoir.

Four days after announcing an April 7 publication date, the publisher said in a statement on Friday that it was dropping “Apropos of Nothing,” Allen’s memoir, and would return all rights to the author.

“The decision to cancel Mr. Allen’s book was a difficult one,” the publisher said in a statement. “At HBG we take our relationships with authors very seriously, and do not cancel books lightly. We have published and will continue to publish many challenging books. As publishers, we make sure every day in our work that different voices and conflicting points of views can be heard.

“Also, as a company, we are committed to offering a stimulating, supportive and open work environment for all our staff. Over the past few days, HBG leadership had extensive conversations with our staff and others. After listening, we came to the conclusion that moving forward with publication would not be feasible for HBG.”

The news came one day after staff at Little, Brown and Co. staged a walkout in protest of the book and in support of its vocal critics, Ronan and Dylan Farrow. Dylan has accused Allen, her adoptive father, of molesting her when she was a child. Employees from the imprints Basic, Orbit, Forever and Hachette Books also walked out.

A Los Angeles Times staff member who had emailed the Hachette imprint received an autoreply informing her of the walkout with the message: “We stand with Ronan and Dylan Farrow and survivors of sexual assault.”

In an email statement Thursday in response to the walkout, Hachette had said: “We respect and understand the perspective of our employees who have decided to express their concern over the publication of this book. We will engage our staff in a fuller discussion about this at the earliest opportunity.”