

He quickly became popular in right-wing and libertarian circles across the globe, becoming a regular guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Peterson, 58, a University of Toronto professor of psychology turned anti-political correctness crusader, first ignited international controversy in September 2016, when he posted a lecture to YouTube stating he refused to use gender neutral pronouns for students and condemning Bill C-16, legislation that increased protections for trans and non-binary Canadians. The company did not answer any of the specific questions sent by VICE World News. We remain committed to publishing a range of voices and viewpoints,” the statement said. We are open to hearing our employees’ feedback and answering all of their questions. Our employees have started an anonymous feedback channel, which we fully support. Immediately following the announcement, we held a forum and provided a space for our employees to express their views and offer feedback.

“We announced yesterday that we will publish Jordan Peterson’s new book Beyond Order this coming March. In an email statement, Penguin Random House Canada said it is open to its employees’ feedback. It just makes all of their previous efforts seem completely performative,” the employee added.Ī third employee told VICE World News the company’s diversity and inclusion committee received at least 70 anonymous messages about Peterson’s book, and only a couple are in favour of the decision to publish it. “The company since June has been doing all these anti-racist and allyship things and them publishing Peterson’s book completely goes against this. “He is an icon of hate speech and transphobia and the fact that he’s an icon of white supremacy, regardless of the content of his book, I’m not proud to work for a company that publishes him,” a junior employee who is a member of the LGBTQ community and who attended the town hall told VICE World News.Īnother employee said “people were crying in the meeting about how Jordan Peterson has affected their lives.” They said one co-worker discussed how Peterson had radicalized their father and another talked about how publishing the book will negatively affect their non-binary friend.
