The cultural crime of thinking differently

The sordid story of how a Tweetstorm almost destroyed the Romance Writers of America serves as a cautionary tale of the perils of modern cancel culture. As of last week, it looks like the drama, itself worthy of a pulpy novel, has finally come to an end.

In August 2019, Carolyn Jewel, president-elect of the 40-year-old trade organization, announced she had blocked a prominent figure in the billion-dollar romance novel publishing industry for “liking” what she considered racist tweets. Jewel was referring to acquisitions editor and corporate book-buyer Sue Grimshaw. The proof of Grimshaw’s racism? She had liked, but not written, tweets that expressed support for President Donald Trump and pro-Christian messages.

One of the tweets Grimshaw liked read, “Jesus never said it would be easy, but He said it would be worth it!” Another from conservative activist Charlie Kirke stated, “ICE just arrested 680 illegal aliens in Mississippi.” Yet another came from Trump’s account and praised medical workers in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, after mass shootings in the two cities.

Author Courtney Milan, chairwoman of the RWA’s ethics committee—ostensibly tasked with championing inclusivity and diversity—joined the fray. She targeted Grimshaw, calling on authors of color to share Grimshaw’s rejections of their books as proof of her bigotry. Milan and her followers then moved on to charging Grimshaw’s publisher with racism for defending her. They also condemned books by one of Grimshaw’s authors for white supremacism while admitting they hadn’t read it.

Though a powerful figure in the romance genre, Grimshaw did not belong to the RWA. The publisher and author did, however, and they filed a formal complaint with the organization accusing Milan of harming their careers.

Hamstrung by a rule enacted under Milan’s tenure as ethics chair that exempted social media from code of conduct violations, the RWA couldn’t discipline Milan for cyberbullying. But a newly formed committee ruled she hurt the reputation of the industry. In late December, the RWA board suspended her for one year and banned her from serving in a leadership role in the future.

Milan’s suspension added more fuel to the fire. Her supporters decried the entire organization as racist. Spooked by the media attention the skirmish was getting, major publishers and agents began withdrawing their support from the organization and vowed to skip its annual conference. By the beginning of January, the entire RWA board had resigned and canceled its annual awards ceremony.

At that point, the RWA commissioned an independent audit from a law firm to address critics’ concerns. In February, the law firm—Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman—found Milan had not been the victim of racism: “The evidence Pillsbury reviewed does not suggest that the adverse finding against Ms. Milan was motivated by animus or bias against her.” By this point, though, no one seemed to care about the facts.

In late March, RWA members elected a new interim board. Their first order of business? They formally expunged the ethics complaints from Courtney Milan’s record and on Friday issued her a “heartfelt apology for how the proceedings were handled and for the impact of this terrible situation on her.”

Let them entertain you

As homebound families turn to the internet for entertainment, celebrities are jumping on the bandwagon—or, in this case, bandwidth—to supply new content. Here is a glimpse of some of the more popular online programs entertainers have created so far during the COVID-19 pandemic:

DIY masterpieces

The J. Paul Getty Museum of Los Angeles challenged people to recreate their favorite works of art using ordinary household items, and the results prove people in quarantine can be very, very creative. A sleeping bag became a historic gown, a vacuum cleaner turned into a harp, and lasagna noodles represented Renaissance calligraphy.

“Thousands and thousands of re-creations later, we’re in awe of your creative powers and sense of humor,” the museum told participants. —Lynde Langdon