While I’ve found the New York Times’ coverage of the British royals a bit too condescending and conservative in recent years, they did a pretty thorough summary of everything that’s gone down this week with the whole “Dutch translation of Omid Scobie’s Endgame” situation. The first Dutch print included, seemingly out of nowhere, the names of the two “royal racists” who had “concerns” about what color skin Prince Archie would have. For a full day, the British media danced around who was accidentally named or misidentified or what have you. Then Piers Morgan blew it up by saying, on his TV show, that the Dutch edition named King Charles and Princess Kate. The Times notes – and this clarified one big question – that after the passage where Charles is named as one of the racists, there’s a “later reference to the Princess of Wales being involved in conversations about Archie” but it is “less specific.” The Times also notes:
The managing director of the publisher, Anke Roelen, said it would investigate how the names ended up in the book. “It was an extremely precise process that took months,” she said. “So, we are very careful with drawing any conclusions.”
Dutch publishing executives were skeptical that a translator would have added the names. “The only thing I can think of that could have happened is that the translator translated from an early pass” of the manuscript, said Willem Bisseling, a literary agent at Sebes & Bisseling. “But that’s just a guess.”
Some speculated that the libel laws had handcuffed Mr. Scobie as tightly as the press. Daniel Taylor, a media lawyer at the London firm Taylor Hampton, said the author and his publisher were at risk of a defamation suit if the people who made the comments “were deemed to be racist in posing the question” about the child’s skin color.
“If the names were included in the book by mistake without sufficient evidence to back up who made the allegation or the circumstances in which it was made,” Mr. Taylor added, “that may have led to a decision to pulp the copies.”
As Scobie said in his British TV interview on Thursday, “I have never submitted a book that had their names in it.” The inquiry referenced by the NYT and the Guardian is something in-house, within HarperCollins (Endgame’s publisher) and their foreign subsidiaries or what have you. I have no idea how it works for translations and international editions, but I do think that within the publishing world (especially for something as high-profile and delicate as a major book about the Windsors), there would be an extensive paper trail, both physical paperwork and digital records. I read my copy from HarperCollins just days before the book’s publication and I was impressed with the level of digital security around Endgame. I’m just saying, it seems like it should be pretty easy to suss out where and when the names were added.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail’s crack team of stalkers found one of the Dutch translators. Judging from the photos, they went to her home, knocked on her door, photographed her in her doorway and barraged her with questions. It’s absolutely a huge violation. According to the DM stalkers, she claims that she only translated what was in front of her and “The names of the royals were there in black and white. I did not add them. I just did what I was paid to do and that was translate the book from English into Dutch.” She also said that another translator worked on Endgame. I’m sure the Mail is already looking for his or her home address. What a f–king mess.
Here’s Omid Scobie’s full interview on This Morning (from Thursday).
Photos courtesy of Omid Scobie’s Instagram.
Stalking the translator, photographing her at her home, and blowing up her life to the world without evidence she is to blame for this is a step too far.
^^ This is especially egregious.
I hope charges are filed and people go to prison.
But Omid would be in deep 💩 if he named the royal racists. The British legal system is so effed up.
On what basis, bc I am seriously trying to work out under what action ?
@Flower I think it would be defamation or libel – I’m not sure which under UK law.
Omid didn’t put their names in a Uk edition. At this point it’s the publisher who messed up. Also he won’t get sued because it’s true anyway except perhaps William instead of Charles.
@Becks1 the truth is an absolute defence to defamation, which would pose real problems for the Royals as they would need to provide the letters etc.
I think he’s being framed. Some sleazy media outlet somehow intercepted the draft sent for translation and added the names. It’s the perfect setup. And it isn’t beyond what they’re capable of…what they did phone hacking was just as crazy.
I hope the Dutch have laws against the Daily Fail dirty stalking tactics
The Kate’s out of the bag and this will not go away.
All part of the separation negotiations to put Kate on the back foot so that she settles quickly.
I think a separation will be announced in the new year, which will be PR’d as ‘amicable’ and that they ‘still have a great deal of affection for each other and wish to jointly parent their children’.
Kate will keep the Windsor home and Bill will keep Kensington apartment and an apartment at Windsor and Anmer Hall.
The courtiers will then will slowly ease Kate into the divorce phase in a year or two after they have sabotaged her repeatedly like they did with Diana. Kate will be endlessly vilified and the cost of her outfits and beauty treatments etc totted up.
There after Bill will step out with his new partner.
If Kate has been a decent human being to Meghan this all could have been avoided. No need for Carole to have her brother Gary go to the media. Kate avoided going near Archie in front of cameras.
I think this could actually save their marriage, which has been tottering for a while now, or at least give it a temporary boost. Criticism has been increasing for quite a few months now, reverting back to focusing on their laziness. This couldn’t have happened at a better moment for W&K – the English Rose being attacked by a nasty Meghan defender blah blah. It’s fallen into their lap. The tabloiders don’t care about accusation of racism, they care about the accused being upset.
@Sparrow, ITA. We know they bond over their hatred of the Sussexes, and I’m sure that’s who they blame here, not Piers Morgan.
I think Kate is a racist, and I think she said it. Of course I could be wrong. If I am wrong, I am totally OK with her taking the fall for whomever did say it.
I’ve long thought that it was William — and I still do, although I have no doubt that the whole racist family was nattering amongst themselves. This all seems terribly convenient for both William and for Camilla. I’m waiting for the dust to settle, since there’s surely more to come.
Fascinating family dynamics. Between the Windsors and the Trumps , there’s been an unimaginable display of family dysfunction out there in recent years.
And if none of that happens within the next 2 years, then what?
I dislike William and Kate but they seem stuck together.
That timeline makes sense, Flower. William not defending Kate here because it gives him more power in the separation/divorce negotiations.
they…..stalked the translator. Good lord. These people have no shame.
I have no idea how the names got in there. It’s super weird to me. But I dont think the translator was part of an international conspiracy to put the names in there (someone yesterday suggested CP Mary got the names in there?? Ummmmm I don’t think that’s what happened.)
And I absolutely believe that Omid never submitted a copy with the names in it. He would have known that was never going to get past legal.
so what exactly happened??
I’m intrigued by this and hope we hear from the investigation. At this point, scobie is being smeared in the press for purposely doing this to garner more attention for his book. Which makes no sense. It was always going to get attention from the BM. And why would he want that legal hassle after working so closely with lawyers. So yeah what happened?
1.somehow an earlier draft was sent that had the names and scobie is saying his final copy did not contain the names but is being careful how he says this
2. The manuscript was licensed out to other publishers as he said and someone added the names before going into translation, not the translator but someone working in the publishing house
Idk, these are my best guesses right now. If I was omid, I’d want my name cleared.
Third option, maybe an editor who knew the names suggested adding that paragraph in an edit which was not adopted, but that version was sent for translation for whatever reason? We’ve heard that the names were commonly known by the press which very well could include people employed as editors of this type of book.
One thing that I find super frustrating about this is now there’s all this focus on “how” the names got in there and THAT seems to be becoming the story.
Whether Omid put them in an earlier draft, whether a proofreader or editor suggested adding them in and that got sent to the Dutch publisher, whether Queen Maxima called in a favor, or whether this is part of a vast international conspiracy (and yes I know the latter two options are the least likely, lol), the fact remains that the names are now out there and I dont think we’ve heard any specific denials from royal “insiders.”
Agree @becks1. It’s awfully convenient that this has become the story. The how rather then the what as you say.
Seriously, it’s turned the BM into one big circlejerk of trashing Omid 24/7 and trying to discredit and smear him. Instead of asking what accountability Kate will face (we already know, but still).
And they were already trying to discredit Omid by constantly calling him “Meghan’s Mouthpiece,” but now they can claim that this *proves* he’s a liar and nothing in his book should be believed. It’s all so gross.
Omid is not the one sending the final signed draft to the publishers around the world for translation. He’s got a literary agent and that’s who has his signed version.
It’s either someone at the publishing house who sent another version, perhaps an early draft, or an editor of the translated versions.
Omid isn’t the one who did anything wrong here and he likely has legal recourse against the publisher for this mess up.
I feel so bad for those poor translators!
Whatever the hell happened, they have no reason at all to randomly add names and ruin their professional career forever more. A lie on their end would be so easy to prove anyway.
My view is that Scobie tried to be clever (didn’t he mention in an interview that he was puzzled everyone seemed to forget about Meghan’s comments?) and maybe brought the names up in a previous version of the book, then changed his mind but the publishers screwed up and sent that version to the translators.
There is no way the names didn’t come from the author, surely? Then of course Morgan was his detestable self and blew up the story.
But I can’t see a scenario where Scobie is blameless in this whole affair.
Scobie said that none of the drafts he ever submitted had the names. No reason to doubt him.
Piers Morgan has been caught in lies before. I wouldn’t put it past him to leak names to the Dutch publisher just so he could report on it to get a temporary bump in his ratings.
This. The RR have been desperate for the racists to be named. They were so disappointed that M&H didn’t. My theory is some was paid to slip the names into a soft copy.
@Kirk, I think you are right. I think that Piers Morgan knew and leaked the names himself so that he could create content for an entire year for that failing show he has. He has been trying to discredit Omid for years now. Plus he’s obsession with Meghan can continue with the names of racists being out there. Morgan is no better than pondscum, he’s a disgusting human and I hope that Omid gets to the bottom of this quickly and sues the heck out of whoever did this to him.
He had said it many times that all his versions did not contain the two names. He have no reason to lie about that. From what I understand on his interview (This morning), once his book his finalized, it goes under license in many countries. I doubt, he is the one sending the manuscript to the translator ie there are intermediaries. Also, if names were presents in a previous version, wouldn’t those names not be present in others countries?
I don’t know, he seemed to be coming up with a lot of… words. He’s saying he wanted to bring the issue back on the table, that the names had been out in the open for ages… there are a lot of justifications. If the publishers had gone rogue, he could prove it in a flash.
And I doubt Morgan (however awful he is) would have the power to call a foreign publisher and convince them to amend a manuscript (pre-translation)!
Why would a publisher put themselves at risk of legal repercussions- they had to pulp the Dutch copies of the book, anmmd it’s caused mess and confusion all over the place.
Like @julie says, he is not the one sending out his final draft. That’s the publishing house. They license it out. It makes no sense.
Yes, but he is responsible for that draft. No way would a publishing house randomly edit something that would cause them to then withdraw a book from publication?
To me, I would think it more plausible that the wrong draft was sent by mistake, which means the names were mentioned in one of the versions intially sent to the publishers.
“No way would a publishing house randomly edit something that would cause them to withdraw a book from publication”? Not even a company owned by Murdoch? Note it’s in a version for the Dutch market, which I assume is relatively small, especially as many Dutch might be thought likely to read the English version. If HC had to withdraw it, not a big deal. Not likely to be sued by pulling it immediately. And what’s happening here? People are saying Omid must be lying, must have put it in a previous draft, etc. when we know most of the principles at the palace, and most of the rota, already know these names, it’s not a secret behind the scenes that any number of people couldn’t have passed on. And just in case no one was paying attention to what was going on with the Dutch version, here’s helpful PM explicitly pointing it out.
Raising questions about Omid’s veracity raises the possibility for accusations he’s lying in other parts of the book. The whole focus on this incident diverts attention from other things Omid talk about. Is this really the most important or damaging thing talked about in this book? This incident also gives the BM lots of stories, not the least of which is to blame all of it on Meghan. Who benefits? How many times have we seen this scenario?
Realistically, unless Omid personally gave the document to the Dutch translators, it likely passed through several hands. Too many other possibilities for me to be ready to drop the blame on Omid.
If the names were in the manuscript that Scobie’s publisher sent to translators, then the names should also be present in other translations. If those names are not in other translations (ie., French, Spanish, etc.), then the names didn’t come from Scobie.
@Allyn, that’s a very good point. Also, if the names were from an earlier version that was sent by mistake, other parts of the book would differ as well due to the normal copy-editing process. If the ‘royal racists’ is the ONLY part that’s different in the Dutch version and everything else is the same, something truly weird is up.
I seriously doubt the Omid’s publishers are so crap at their job that they keep multiple electronic copies of his manuscript without in any way distinguishing which is which: first draft, final draft, draft final–or however they label them. C’mon folks.
I also believe that someone was paid to slip the names into the Dutch version. Would be interesting if an investigation was done…but I believe that the two individuals named WERE actually involved, and it actually did take place….pathetic & disgusting. Therefore it won’t go any further. What I have found unfathomable since 2016 is Charles’ unwillingness to protect his own son. But it becomes more and more believable with every new revelation.
It’s not about Scobie “changing his mind” and deciding to delete the names in the final draft. There’s no way that legal would have approved those names being in the published book and Scobie is smart enough to know that. Why bother putting in something that would be taken out?
Seeing as how the British media does know the names, it wouldn’t be hard for a publisher to have someone interfere with that.
Omid signed off on a version without names and the responsibility of anything other than that falls on the publisher. So these attacks on his reputation actually set up a lawsuit on behalf of Omid against the publisher for not properly doing their job.
The British media is ignorant in how publishing works because even Elizabeth Holmes stated that there is no way this comes from the author. Omid isn’t interacting with the Dutch translator at all.
This. I’m mostly ignorant about publishing. Understand the layers of business. Like you said, @Nic919, Omid said he signed off on a copy of the book that didn’t name names. Also believe, no versions of his manuscript named names. OS would have been even more careful after Finding Freedom. Learning later on that Knauff did not give him complete information and Scamantha trying to drag FF into her nonsense.
Those that should be looked at are the ones that hit the send button or those that told someone to hit the send button.imo The digital footprints should be there. And, no, a version of the book with notations by the author is not what is sent. Looked into it. Three different sites said that what is sent to the foreign licensees is what the author signed off on. Troubling matter. A couple of sites said foreign translators have liberty to reword things. To make them more understandable or of interest to their audience. Do I believe it’s a translator’s fault? No. Do I believe it’s Omid’s fault? No.
Anyone poo poohing the idea of conspiracy theories needs to read this. It’s a transcript of PBS’s Frontline Murdoch story. Jaw dropping.imo
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/murdochs-scandal/transcript/
I am trying to play catch up. So Celebitchies WHAT do you think really happened!?? Who went rogue? And where would they even get the names to go rogue with? Do you think someone from the BM infiltrated the dutch publishers,picked a random translated language to drop this in. This is so fascinating!!! I dont think Omid would do this himself!
The Dutch-speaking area is relatively small and sales of books are declining. Publishing is a cut throat industry and the publishers here compete for English language books that they can translate and sell. They are also hampered by the fact that many Dutch people will read the book in its original English.
For this reason, I 100% believe that
there was an English language manuscript which contained KC’s and Kate’s names. According to the Dutch, the manuscripts are often sent as early as possible so the translated version can appear at the same time as the original version. That limits competition between the two versions.
This quote: “ Some speculated that the libel laws had handcuffed Mr. Scobie as tightly as the press. Daniel Taylor, a media lawyer at the London firm Taylor Hampton, said the author and his publisher were at risk of a defamation suit if the people who made the comments “were deemed to be racist in posing the question” about the child’s skin color.” Kind of pisses me off a bit since Scobie is swearing up a storm no version of anything he has ever written contains those names. The Dutch publisher is at risk of losing future work from the English language market and people are therefore at risk of losing jobs.
I don’t know where the mistake was made (presuming that the less likely/ more sensational sabotage explanation is false). Either the Dutch weren’t informed: Harper Collins is then at fault, or Xander Uitgevers didn’t pass vital info on to their translators, editors, copy editors, proofreaders, whoever. If the latter is true, that is a huge eff up. That’s why I really don’t believe that it is tbh. And I think Omid Scobie is lying to save himself a law suit at other people’s costs.
In that scenario, who is at fault? Omid or the publishers?
If Omid is lying, that’s going to be very very easy to prove because there will be some kind of paper or electronic trail. And because of that, I don’t think he is.
Hi ML, I tend to agree and am increasingly falling into this camp. Part of me thinks it wasn’t Omid and his publisher – I can’t believe either would be so ignorant of the potential fallout. But then I can’t come up with anything else. It has to have been him. It was monumentally stupid.
@ML, as much as I appreciate Scobie’s work, your take rings truer than any other explanation based on everything we know so far. Only scrutiny of the paper trail through litigation will tell us.
Omid saying he signed off on the final version without the names means he’s not responsible for anything but that version.
Outside of Omid directly emailing the Dutch publisher with a version with names, there is zero legal responsibility on him for this. It is literally the job of the publisher to handle all these issues, including the translation and to ensure that the proper version is being translated. Someone at the publishing house failed in their job. Omid is 100% in the clear here despite people wanting to attributing blame.
He’s not sure what happened because it’s literally not his job to deal with the translated versions. So of course he might be confused.
Omid said yesterday that the names are correct and have been known to the BM from the get go. I’ve always wondered how the names got out, given that M&H stayed quiet. There’s someone in that family who hates whoever did this and leaked it, IMO. Or, and this is a reach, perhaps it was overheard by a member of staff. That is a really long shot, I know. I don’t think this was put into the book by anyone other than Scobie or more likely his publisher; the whole thing has kicked up so much interest and deflected from the huge lack of scoops people were expecting. However, that theory means he and his publisher weren’t aware how much the BRF goes in hard and heavy with legal threats, which, given how much he purports to know about them, means it probably wasn’t Omid/the publisher. Going round in circles!
I can’t imagine a scenario in which omid and the publishers were not aware of the legalities. It had to have gone through rounds of lawyers.
there is no way either Omid or his publisher weren’t aware of the BRF and legal threats/potential legal action.
Has he literally said the names are correct? I haven’t seen that. He’s talked around it and said “those names” and used other ways to refer to the situation which is smart because he’d be in legal trouble if he said the names in that are correct.
@Sparrow, anything is possible, but I believe Omid knew that this would *never* get past legal and I don’t think he’d risk his career on it.
sparrow, I didn’t hear Scobie admit that the names were correct. He pretty much went around that altogether and just said that the names were known across the board by reporters.
He was also very clear when he said no book had names in it. I don’t think he ever put the names in because he wouldn’t lay himself open to the liability. When he signed off on the book for the publisher WITHOUT the names being in it, that’s when his responsibility stopped.
Don’t buy into the tabloid’s mania. They want to destroy Omid’s reputation and say that everything he wrote was a lie. I think when we all speculate we are just adding to this.
Actually, what I’m hoping is that the bm gets into criminal/legal trouble in The Netherlands for going after the translaters.
I don’t think Omid confirmed that the names are correct only that the entirety of Fleet streets is aware of the names.
Omid might not have added those names, but a copy editor could have, or whomever was in charge of transmitting the book to the Dutch arm for translation. Someone had the scoop and wanted it known, I guess. Any number of people could have inserted those names into the text. But the manuscript and its transmission will have a digital footprint. They can get to the bottom of it, if they want to.
If they want to. And what an interesting coincidence this involves a situation centered almost solely around Meghan. And that the other participant is PM, a man with an obvious vendetta against her for years. And – I’m sure the translators had nothing to do with any of this, but questions about their role are generating stories for the media as well. Anyone paying attention to the details around the Lord Chamberlain’s letter to Harry, how he and his family had their money and security yanked, and everything that went on with Christian Jones?
Exactly! There will be a digital record; nobody’s mailing around a paper manuscript & inserting typewritten pages!! The who behind this is knowable! The real question is, does the perp want it to be knowable? The investigation may go the same way as that into Meghan’s purported (and definitely not true) bullying–i.e., not at all.
BeanieBean, Omid told James O’Brien in a podcast interview that he would come back and tell what the investigation found. No, Omid is not going to allow this to be swept away. This is his reputation and he’s not going to let someone damage it for whatever gain.
Both translators are women with tons of experience. People all over publishing are supporting them, saying that they would never just add names. Poor SP, the stalked translator, has had her reputation questioned.
I agree. I saw her picture yesterday and felt so sorry. This was done by Omid or more likely his publisher, I’m sure. I can’t see how else. People could speculate someone infiltrated it, but how and why? Someone hoping to see the BRF collapse? Someone hoping to see the BRF raised high because UK tabloiders will arise to protect the English Rose?
@Sparrow: your last sentence 🎯
ETA I was horrified at the photos of the poor translator. Showing up at her house is crossing so many lines; that poor woman.
I hope that this investigation is real, as opposed to the RF’s “investigation” about the bullying claims hurled at Meghan.
Authors don’t send their manuscripts to publishing houses for translation & printing!!! Specific people in publishing houses do that!!
I don’t think it’s the translators but someone at the publishing house.
I find Omid very childish. His writing is appalling and hits at about college magazine level. However, I feel for him on this issue in particular: Charles was, I believe, asked yesterday what he felt about Omid, and he chuckled and said something like “he’s safe.. for now”. Yuck. Really nasty.
Charles has a nerve with all of his scandals.
Meghan was attacked by the RR, she wasn’t supported by the BRF, and that same family also attacked her. One of the reasons was her race. In most European countries that would be illegaal. Unfortunately, all these people also targeted Meghan and Harry’s children. All of yhis is pretty easy to prove. And yet absolutely no one in the UK can or is willing to do anything about it. Instead we’re now talking about if KC and family are going sue because of their own nasty behavior and possibly be considered the victims. That is just so effed up!
I agree. What happened to the never complain, never explain. William said that, after Harry, the family would not tolerate “lies” and would go in hard, threatening legal action and fighting to correct the public record. There is a calculated nastiness in this: the BRF knows that by changing its attitude, by going in to protect itself rather than maintaining dignified silence, the UK tabloiders will rally round. They tested the water with Meghan, and have become sure of where their support lies and the nature of it. It’s also all stacked in their favour: who really has the finances, the energy, and the confidence to face them down? Oh, Meghan and Harry with the Daily Mail and its BRF links. You’ve got to admire their rightful determination to not give in.
I have a theory. I’ve noticed that nasty coverage of Harry and Meghan has been minimized to a degree especially since Rupert left. It’s still there but it’s not dominating the way it used too. His son took over and it seems he’s trying a different method mainly due to Harry’s lawsuits. I’m wondering if the son pulled some strings to get the names out there to get back at the royals for not stopping Harry in the first place. You can tell the rota are angry, bitter and desperate because it’s been downhill for them since the Sussexes left. They’ve willingly done the bidding of the royals but in this scenario this feel like chain yanking and being fed up with the royals. What do you guys think? It’s clear those names were leaked intentionally as a way to control or get back at someone. I do not think the royals are that bright to allow all this to get ahead of a narrative. Piers naming the names basically confirmed everything Harry and Meghan said was true. Why would they do that? Especially since they went to great lengths to ignore this and the Sussexes issues with the monarchy.
I feel like the New York fiasco was a desperate move by the press to scare Harry into dropping the suit but when that failed, they turned on the family.
I like this theory, essentially that the RRs are yanking the royals’ chain. At least beginning with Piers Morgan blowing this whole thing up.
Here’s a theory I’ve been thinking about: PM would not have started this by saying the names on-air without the go ahead from someone high up in the BRF. Based on early reporting from the Daily Beast, the original conversation with KC happened between him and Camilla, and was later told to HM by courtiers in an effort to torment them. Later, this was addressed in the letter(s) between M and KC directly. After that, HM softened their language around this incident to “unconscious bias”. This was never handled directly by Kate and William.
So basically my theory is that KC and Camilla condoned PM naming the names, (like they did with dumping KC’s financial scandals) because they can ride out the scandal. If they ever see the light of day, the contents of the letters will show that KC addressed this with H&M. Kate did not, and Kate is ultimately the real target here.
I think this just confirms even more so that she’s not being protected.
I like your theory and would like to add my Tinfoil Tiara twist:
We know the BM has been aware of or at least suspected who the likely culprit(s) are.
Could the Murdoch Crime Family have bribed the translators to add the names yet subsequently claim that the names were in their version all along? Yes, I know the translators are claiming that they can’t translate what wasn’t there, but who really knows?
This paves the way for Murdochs’ golden goose, Piers Morgan, to unveil the names of the royal racists on his TalkTV show. The Murdoch organization sunk millions into TalkTV and it has been a ratings and profit disappointment. This could be a last ditch effort to jump-start a return on their investment. Just a thought.
So harsh towards Scobie. But thank god he is a very smart person. The interviewer is trash
Totally agree on all counts. I am not a Brit so I don’t know who that smarmy jerk is, but he seems to be on the BARF payroll, constantly interrupting Omid and try to push the BARF POV. I would have been tempted to slap him. The woman host was marginally fairer.
I am punting that this was the publisher or an agent of the publisher that did this for the notoriety. Stupid because they gave no thought to those caught in the cross hairs.
I hope Omid has round the clock protection, because his life is about to become that little bit harder…
Legally I do not see where the RF can go with this as either way they’re flucked.
I mean what will they sue for – being revealed as racists?
We already know that there were concerns about Archie’s skin colour and that Meghan was subject to other micro-aggressions by the family.
This is after all a family built on the notions of pure blood lines to the extremes that only certain members of the European RF could marry into the UK branch well into the 1900’s.
The Royals are cooked and they know it.
This was the Murdoch family’s doing. They own Harper Collins. Someone wanted those names out there and I don’t believe for one second it was the family. Piers Morgan who works for the Murdochs somehow decided he was going to name them out of the blue. Why? We know he’s thirsty and desperate for ratings. We also know parts of the press have been angry and annoyed about how things turned out especially with the lawsuits, Losing access etc. This was intentional and was done to hurt someone and it wasn’t Scobie or the Sussexes.
Was just about to mention this. I’m not much of one for conspiracy theories, but that News Corp. owns Harper Collins is a connection that raises valid questions.
This fact that this blew up less than 48 hours from publication makes me think it was all planned and calculated by the Murdoch villains. I do not think it was Scobie or the United States editorial team at Harper Collins who had anything to do with it. Remember that the Dutch versions of the books were in physical form well before the release date. How convenient that the mistake was quickly found and publicized only after they were put on sale but no one at the Dutch company, either legal or editorial, flagged it before it got that far? Instead, we get dramatic headlines about pulping the books and Morgan blurting out the names that have been kept secret for two plus years.
I don’t understand foreign rights, but wouldn’t either Harper Collins or the purchasing publisher have systems in place to make sure incendiary changes aren’t inserted during the translation process, especially with fact-based nonfiction? This hardly seems like a new problem.
It’s like the fox guarding the henhouse and, again, the malicious influence of a business entity that is in legal dispute with Prince Harry.
It makes the most sense that the book was sabotaged higher up the food chain. Harry recalls Charles and William asking after the court cases as if he was suing their friends and Frogmore Cottage was removed from him as a spanner in the works before some of those cases got underway.
Yes, I’m leaning towards something like this too. It sounds very conspiracy theory but it’s obvious that the BM was dying to talk about it and I think Scobie is smart enough to want to avoid the possible legal issues to be involved.
Other people have said the Dutch market is small, so it’s probably not as expensive to get rid of a first edition which means less losses than if it was in a French edition for example.
Anyone remember the early episode of Suits where a young woman at a securities firm is blamed and prosecuted for a trading violation? Turned out she was the fall guy for someone higher up who was illegally trading on inside information. She unknowingly did his dirty work because the tip sheet she was given was different than those of the other traders. Reminds me of that situation. Send the Dutch publisher a very slightly altered version of the original 400 page English text, to then be translated. How would the translators and Dutch publishers know if there were any trivial alterations? I could point out there’s people in the RF very well acquainted with Suits, but that’s a little too conspiracy for me…
I will mention again though, how convenient that this is all about something involving Meghan, that Omid was dismissed/castigated (yet again) prior to Endgame’s publication for being Meghan’s “pal” and the Sussexes mouthpiece, so another blame it on Meghan (not the RF) opportunity.
An organic mistake would take a little more time to roll out than how it actually happened. It would most likely lead with a Dutch reviewer or reporter reading the embargoed book then scooping the world with the headline that New Scobie Book Names Royal Racists. That news would be quickly spread worldwide via social media and other platforms. At the same time, the Dutch publishing company would start scrambling, crisis-solving and then announce they were pulping. All of this could happen quickly, but in stages.
Instead, we get the Murdoch owned company telling on themselves so fast that heads spin, despite having the physical book with the names in it in their possession for weeks ahead of time. And to make sure the names are released loud and clear, Murdoch’s stooge Piers Morgan is ready to go with his faux outrage, declaring that the public need to know and blurts out the names. All this accidentally happens rapid-fire in less than 48 hours post release? Nope.
Idk: Rick Evers had an embargoed Dutch copy. He read huge news for a royal reporter—the royal racists were named. It makes total sense to me that he’d be shouting out that info. Several people had embargoed versions in many different languages and absolutely no one else mentioned this. In a country where English is -the- second language, I don’t think it’s weird that some would quickly notice the discrepancy. RE said that within about an hour of posting the names, the publisher had gotten in touch with him, but that was only after his news blew up on Twitter (and with English speaker). The fact that that was quickly noticed is two quick phone calls. Twitter news reaches someone at HarperCollins or Scobie. HC or Scobie calls Xander. Xander calls RE. The books are recalled from the Dutch market.
Since HC is owned by the Murdoch empire, that might be the reason why the Dutch received an altered copy. At the moment, I’m not ready to believe that someone edited and sent OS’s manuscript just yet.
Whoops – I just posted something similar without seeing what you wrote here.
@ML thanks for the background on Evers tweeting it out first; that makes a lot of sense to me. Still, Murdoch & Co.’s fingers are all over this–he must have been sitting back cackling, waiting for the panicked phone call from the Dutch publishers terrified to tell him about the just discovered costly “mistake.”
@ML – it occurred to me also that having the issue in the Dutch copy meant it was likely to be discovered almost immediately, because so much of the population speaks English (had a Dutch SO at one point). Perfect set up, in a way. My question is, what’s NOT going on, or NOT being looked at in Endgame when it hits the shelves, because things are blowing up everywhere over what the media has cleverly defined with the attention grabbing buzz words “royal racists”. And who’s being blamed? Omid, certainly here; Meghan, in the BM, as usual; and a couple of translators, at least two of which, and very likely all three, have no part in what happened.
Asked this question above – haven’t read the book yet, but is the identity of the royal racists the worst thing Omid says in this book? From the articles here, I don’t think so. And I’d question whether he’d put names to these people at any point in the process, when he’d know full well the potential pitfalls. And he’s not the only one with the information. So the question is, who benefits from the situation (certainly media), and who would benefit from diversion tactics. Not hard to come up with some theories.
@Harper, I agree with you.
I have great respect for Omid and his integrity. I don’t for a minute believe he had anything to do with this. I mean, why would he expose himself to a possible huge lawsuit? So either someone evil managed to infiltrate the Dutch copy and added it, or an older copy of Omid’s manuscript had the names which were legally taken out, and the older copy landed in the Dutch translators’ orbit. I feel sad that Omid has to deal with all of this, on top of everything else.
Out of curiosity, who would have written Omid Scobie’s manuscript for him first?! If it’s in an older copy, Omid himself must have written it. Either he n eds to out his ghostwriter or he lied.
The Harper Collins connection to the Murdochs mentioned in the comments above causes some doubt, though. The lawsuits should be able to confirm if Scobie wrote them in an early draft or if the murky, cutthroat royal watcher industry paid someone at the publisher to insert the names. There is a lot of money at stake, and it is plausible that someone who stands to gain lots of money is willing to pay for somebody at the publishing house to sabotage Scobie’s book by making it vulnerable to the libel laws in the UK.
I hope that Scobie did not insert them. The RR is so desperate, and the Murdochs have a history of allowing this type of thing, that is is plausible that they have a plant at Harper Collins.
Yes, I’m heading this way more and more, ML. If there is another writer involved, tell us. It seems like a moment of passion in the defence of someone wronged, throwing all care to the wind in the pursuit of the truth on their behalf. This kind of behaviour is admirable and yet dangerous, and is indicative of someone younger and more oblivious to fall out, all of which I can see in Omid. But then again writer’s mistakes and potential law suit invitations are weeded out by rounds of editing, legal advice, and publisher control. This is not the translator IMO.
Oh, I believe Omid could have inserted the names in one of his original manuscripts, since apparently the royal family and reporters all knew anyway. Then legal could have told him to remove the names, which he did. Manuscripts go through tons and tons of revisions and editing and so on, so Omid’s final manuscript did not have the names. So maybe an older version got wrongly sent to the Dutch translators – or – someone stirring up trouble added the names secretly for the Dutch version. I don’t for a second believe Omid had anything to do with it.
ML, Omid states in his interviews that he never put the names in his written work. I think it was James O’Brien where he said it’s a matter of show and tell, and he couldn’t show anything (no evidence to back it up), so he never wrote it in. That seems very conclusive that if the names were in anywhere in the manuscript it was done by someone else. Omid also stated that he had it looked at by THREE attorneys. Three. No, this wasn’t Omid’s fault. I’m just sorry that too many people are buying into part of the bm’s crap and would paint him with this particular brush.
I don’t think there is a chance he would ever write the actual names. At most, he would have used code names, like Harry did, but even at that, he knew he was never publishing the names, so why would this layer of subterfuge be necessary?
The code names Harry used were vital to the story of his life. He could not lay out his life without including wasp, etc… Omid Scobie is well removed.
Those poor translators. I think Omid is lying.
I’m beginning to believe this, too. It’s a worry for this chap. Charles has already said “he’s safe, for now”. I hope someone is looking after him. I make him sound like an infant, but heavens someone from his publishing house or someone legal needs to be reaching out.
What does he gain by lying? Omid doesn’t have the money for the kinds of lawsuits that would likely come his way and he knows it. He’s not about to risk his livelihood on this kind of mistake. Good lord.
“Lying” in the sense that he may possibly suspect, given what has happened, how something along the way was left in by mistake. He may have an idea of where that part of the process lies. Do I think he stands to gain by this? Definitely not.
Yeah no. I’m not going to assume omid is lying without evidence. He’s being smeared in the press as a liar which isn’t fair for him either. There’s an investigation.
Who stands to gain here? The BRF and the BM both do if this causes people to believe that Omid is a liar and that none of his reporting can be trusted.
i agree, @jais. why would scobie do this deliberately? now the veracity of his entire work is being called into question. also, as someone who works in publishing, i cannot see anyone agreeing to this plan. leave this passage out of all copies and translations except this one case which we will immediately pulp. and why? for what? the book had a ton of press already. he gains absolutely nothing from this play, and loses so much (and now charles is actually threatening him to the press?). say what you want about scobie, but one thing he is not is stupid. he was so very meticulous and careful through the rest of the book, and then he does this on purpose? now he has to spend all his time defending himself against this, answering questions about this, instead of actually talking about his work? i just don’t believe it. it’s honestly disheartening to see how quickly people here are falling for the smear campaign.
@Jais and @Mables, ITA. Why would Omid risk his reputation and possibly his career? He had a press tour planned and as you said, it’s all turned into him having to defend himself. And casting doubt on the entirety of his work. It’s not worth it, imo.
I mean, I doubt this book sold many more copies than it would have just because of this? He didn’t need more publicity, and certainly not the negative mess like this has devolved into (and that he would have known before he did it that it would cause a shitstorm).
Oh here we go. New handle blaming Omid and completely ignoring how publishing a book works. Omid isn’t the one emailing them the draft. It’s the publishing house.
There will be signed proof of the final manuscript without any names and anything distributed outside of that copy is the fault of the publisher.
No author ever has direct control over the translations of their books, especially the languages they don’t speak.
Atlanta Babe, why would Omid lie about something that would be easily discovered? You don’t think there are drafts of his work that will prove what he says? I do.
I’m concerned about people willing to believe the bm that this is Omid’s fault. When did we start listening to them?
I see that the trolls are seeping out of the woodwork. Hatred of Meghan is morphing into hatred for Omid, which isn’t surprising, based on the ridiculous level of casual and deliberate racism we’ve all witnessed on Salty Isle. The derangers are losing the script and as such have lost their natural minds and are now swarming into unwelcome territory to frantically try to distract and switch the narrative.
The desire to bow and scrape to their white royal gods is one hell of a drug!
It’ll be a simple fuck-up.
It’s always a simple fuck-up when something like this happens.
I would not bet against a simple translation error. I don’t care how good you are, everyone makes mistakes. Particularly when Scobie is dancing around the names in a convoluted way in the English version anyway.
Yes, this is what I think. My guess is that in the draft the Dutch translators were working from, Omid tried to hint as strongly as he could, and (1) it was close enough that a reasonable translation became naming the names, and (2) Omid and his editors decided it was too close to be legally safe and revised the English version but the Dutch translators didn’t get that revision.
EE and KT, You just denigrated two translators who have years of experience translating from English into Dutch. Their colleagues have already come out in force to defend them AND one of the translators has already said that the version she was given contains KC’s and Kate’s names. Can we stop with blaming foreigners and accusing professionals of poor skills and poor judgment?!
The most logical explanation is that there was an earlier version with the names. Otherwise, the version sent from HarperCollins was tampered with (and the Dutch are saying this is what they received).
Oh, for heaven’s sake, why on earth would the Dutch publishing house get a different version from all the other publishers??? That makes no sense!! Publishing doesn’t work that way.
I don’t think it’s that. The Dutch versions I saw were different that the English version, specially the part that names Kate. The translator would have needed to write a few completely different sentences to add her name (and Charles’swho is also mentioned there).
With the Charles part it’s would be easier to imagine because it’s much closer, but it still changes the structure of the sentence enough that it seems like too big of a leap to insert his name in the way it was done.
But… how could it be a simple translation mistake when now everyone says it’s the truth? That would be a pretty big coincidence.
Again….you never know who or where Derangers are; media is incestuous; the contents of the letter Charles’ leaked has been known within some parts of media. Some UK or US Deranger in publishing did this translator dirty. One interesting point, Piers Morgan had been silent on the Sussex’s for sometime……perhaps he knew this was coming.
“media is incestuous”
And many UK media people have been effectively silenced and controlled by Wooton blackmailing them. There may many be compromised people in various professional places who could be compelled to do the dirty deeds done dirt cheap that Murdoch and Co want done.
Piers has been going after the sussexes I recall several nasty articles over the past few weeks.
The original manuscript was sent in error. It would have been read by legal, legal said remove the names, he did. The problem was that the original manuscript was sent, while Omid was sorting the one that WAS to be sent to the interpretor out. That’s one option, but, with the names Murdoch and Morgan a big part of this, all bets are of.! Morgans ratings were dropping, murdoch is losing a lot of money with his rank TV shows and with one fell swoop, Morgans ratings go through the roof and profits rise for Satan and his family. But the MAIN thing the BEST thing about it all, is that the Royals are holed below the water line, and I don’t believe they can bail fast enough to fix it. Not unless something happens to make people feel sorry for them all over again, becausr for the first 6 months after the Queen died, the Royal family were Back in favour!! Stay safe Harry and Megan, and a couple of people closer to home need to be very, very careful
Totally agree.
Agree. This has Murdoch’s and Morgan’s filthy fingers all over it. Even though Murdoch Sr. has been side-lined to Board Chair Emeritus you can bet he’s still pulling many strings, as is Lachlan. Scobie’s been played and Meghan is once again a target. What a sick, sorry situation. The only good thing to come out of this is another big fukup for the BaRF, they’ve lurched from one stupid mess to another in KC3’s brief reign and the “who talked about Archie’s skin colour” is a gift that keeps on giving.
And any transcript sent that isn’t the final version approved by legal and Omid is the fault of the publisher. It is their literal job to make sure this doesn’t happen but someone at Harper Collins or the Dutch publishing house messed up.
Mary Pester, Omid has said he never wrote the names. He didn’t have anything to back it up, so he couldn’t. He had THREE attorneys look at his manuscript. No, this wasn’t a previous draft. This sounds like someone actually rewrote a paragraph and included the names. I have a feeling that the attorney who reviewed this manuscript for Omid will be quite happy to explain to the publisher that the names were never there when they read it.
I really like that the situation probably wouldn’t have blown up so bad if Morgan had just shut up. Also that poor translator, I hope she gets the police involved because that’s messed up.
I think It is an inside job at Harperscollins. Isn’t a Murdoch company? Someone in there add the names to create chaos for Sussexes and Omid. I for one hope that the Sussexes will make some charity appearance on world Aids Day.
I think you’re right — HC is owned by Murdoch’s company.
It’s not just owned by News Corp., it’s been owned by them for more than 30 years. In fact, they’re the ones who created HC in 1990 by merging two of their major assets acquired in the years after Murdoch formed the original News Corp in 1980 – Harper & Row and William Collins.
This continues the RF and British media playbook of going after those who expose racism, not those who perpetrated it. We need look no further than the Ngozi Furlani v Susan Hussey debacle last year – all of the emphasis was on punishing Furlani for speaking the truth.
The sad part is an investigation into unfounded financial issues at Sistah Space was immediately launched and Ngozi had to step down temporarily as CEO. I understand it’s slowly returning to normal operations but this is a prime example of the spitefulness and racism of the BRF, going after a charity that is doing meaningful work for survivors of domestic and sexual violence just for revenge.
Domestic Violence- an area Camilla purports to shed a light on. The palace is disgusting.
Agreed, @Jay. This is the hallmark of bigots. They are far more outraged and appalled by the exposure of racism and the pushback of the victims of racism than the actual indefensible shitty behavior. There’s a common expectation that non-white people should “put up and shut up”.
“How dare you complain about racial abuse!?!?!? You’re just so negative and grasping! How dare you expose us as racists? You’ve forgotten your place in our superior white culture.”
First of all, I hope the poor translator can get the police invoved because it’s disgusting what the BM does.
Those parts of the Ducht version are different enough from the English version that they can’t be a simple translation error. Specially the part with Kate’s name is very different.
You’d think it was from a previous draft, but Scobie is saying those names were never in his book which I think it’s not illogical, becasue why would he put them there when it was obvious never going to pass legal? So either he’s lying and all this is a complicated way to get the names out there, which has become such a huge story that is covering all the other more important stuff in Endgame, or he’s not lying and those sentences got there some other way. Which is where we get a bit into a conspiracy theory.
The BM is loving it of course, they’ve been dying to talk about it since H&M mentioned it on Oprah. They already knew it before that but they weren’t going to say it themselves, only now PM can cover his ass by reporting on the Dutch edition. They’re the only ones who win on this. Oh, and Egg does too. It makes him look better than his father and, if he needs it, he’s got a new reason to sideline his wife.
It’s not hard to check back through the drafts and figure out where the extra sentences first appeared. Scobie would be found out so quickly if he was lying, what would be the point?!
I still lean towards fuck up. Maybe it was written and then deleted before Scobie submitted, but someone rolled back the version history of the submitted file for some reason and went a version too far.
KT, then it would have been written by someone other than Omid. He’s made it clear that he NEVER wrote the names in on ANYTHING he submitted. The publisher, therefore, would have had to add it after Omid’s THREE attorneys reviewed it.
That’s the tell, as far as I’m concerned. PM sticking his opportunistic, phone hacking snoot into this story after hoping aloud the BRF ‘bumps Harry off’ some days earlier. Think of what we and the New York Times and the rest of the media aren’t discussing in this gleeful, flashy media frenzy at the moment:
William’s private secretary, Christian Jones, that perv Dan Wooton and the fact that the palace threatened Prince Harry and closed ranks against a blood prince over William’s staff.
Omid is expendable to News Corp and they had a score to settle. The ‘scandal’ of those names ending up in a foreign edition gives the book more notoriety, more sales. The publisher gets their money either way and it doesn’t matter to them if Scobie, who did testify in court explaining what he witnessed in the newsroom about the phone hacking, has his reputation injured after the book is released. This could well be pay back by Murdoch.
Yeah, I didn’t know until this morning that the publisher was owned by Murdoch, but that plus the fact that Piers Morgan jumped on it makes the “conspiracy” theories look a lot more plausible.
Omg that poor translator! I had read some articles yesterday with her quote but didn’t realize the Daily Mail had gone to her house and besieged the poor woman. I thought that was a statement she had provided through a spokesperson or lawyer. I believe her, I don’t think she would risk her entire career by including things that were not in the original translation. This must be so upsetting for her. Whatever version she got had the names in it. I know Omid insists he did not send the manuscript to the publisher with any references to any names but given that books go through so many revisions, somewhere along the line a version with the names may have accidentally ended up with his publisher. And… well he probably accidentally included it and it got circulated. I can’t think of any other way the Dutch translators would have gotten a copy of the English manuscript with the names in it.
I do hope they make the results of the inquiry public. Either Omid or his publisher messed up. It was definitely not the Dutch translators.
I’m with you on this. I can’t see it being a conspiracy of any kind, really; just a bollocks level mistake by Omid/the publisher somewhere along the line.
VilleRose and Sparrow, since when do we believe the bm? Omid has said in front of the camera and during a podcast interview with James O’Brien that he NEVER submitted anything with the names included. He had THREE attorneys check it. I think it’s time for people to understand that any of us following the bm and blaming Omid, is not just surprising, but damaging Omid’s reputation. That matters to me, and I hope it matters to everyone on this blog.
Just to clarify: Did Omid say that he never submitted a manuscript that had names? I assume legal would have gone over things. I can’t imagine a publisher would deliberately open itself to libel suits. Very curious.
tamsin, he said that he never submitted anything he wrote that had names in it. That means that even the drafts that he submitted did NOT have them in it. I believe Omid. It’s too darned easy to prove this wrong and he has no reason to lie. He always knew that he didn’t have any evidence to back up naming names, and he wouldn’t have opened himself to liability.
All in all, whichever way we individually go on this – whether or not it was done purposefully by one party or not, or even by some outside source – the victims are the translators and Omid (be it because of his own folly or not). The translator has been doorstepped and her career is most likely in ruins, and Omid looks absolutely exhausted. Do I think the BRF is a victim? No. If anything this has boosted their popularity in tabloid land: “we protect Kate, racist or not, because she’s one of us” blah blah. Once again she’s been given a gold star, not for the love of her, herself, but the hatred of Meghan. She is loving it. Which says so much about her, whether she did it or not. And I also think K&W will ride high on their victimhood; it’s a boost for their relationship, I am positively sure.
So the tabloids get to talk about what they’ve been dying to talk about and get to ruin the mental health and reputations of others at the same time. That is their MO. I can’t think of the exact word to describe this yet.
“Cruelty”, comes to mind. They’ve been itching for this opportunity, as you say. Didn’t Wootton say, with pure glee, that Meghan was his Diana, and heavens haven’t the tabloids made their money out of her, be it straight or sideways on.
@Tamsin, it’s sad how correct this is.
I don’t think William will magically change his attitude toward Kate. If anything I will think it will get worse
Wow. No one’s going to comment about how Omid has been persecuted (in this interview for the love of God!) & his father (who must be quite elderly) is being stalked by FELLOW journalists, not rando nut jobs. Just like Prince Harry’s ghostwriter.
This is Omid’s Oprah interview: he is talking about the organized, harassment and threats on national television.
Omid , why not just name the names in these public interviews? You have a platform you didn’t ask for .Burn it all to the ground Omid. Next time this comes up in an interview: name the journalists, name the publications, file public police reports where appropriate and share them.
If interviewers don’t want to talk about the monarchy, make the harassment and threats the conversation, because that is the story and has always been the story. You wrote a whole a$$ book about this, and you failed, you didn’t go far enough. Think like an American, you moron. Don’t be afraid. You don’t have to be a British “subject”.
Do what Meghan could not do; It isn”t your family that deployed a journalist militia against you to destroy your life and your mental health. We can see the pain on your face in this interview. Grow up and face these bullies-you can’t hide behind a keyboard with this one.
Would love to see that.
Omid Scobie: “The book I wrote, the book I edited, the book I signed off on, did not have the names in it.” He had nothing to do with the Dutch publisher’s debacle.
Thanks for confirming. I thought he said no version had the names, but wasn’t sure.
Someone at the publishing house did this.
Yes, Scobie also said in other interviews that there were NO names in any version.
Thank you @artfossil. There are some on this thread gleefully pointing the finger at Omid and blithely ignoring what he categorically stated and you quoted.
What a couple of commentators above are doing is ignoring the simple and, maybe, obvious and naming Omid and putting him at great risk of harm. These people are dangerous. We will hear more of them in these threads over the coming days. Their aim is harm to Omid and H&M. One stands out. Single moniker. Obsessed clearly. Multiple posts. This one is terrifying in their vehemence that Omid is the source.
Scobie’s book has been out in the US since November 28. It speaks for itself. But Scobie has also said there were NO names in ANY version. (And this can easily be verified by Harper Collin’s archives.)
Scobie’s publisher, Harper Collins, is responsible for entering into license agreements for publication by foreign publishers. Scobie has no role in or responsibility for these foreign publications.
Asserting that Scobie lied or is somehow to blame for the Dutch translation looks like an attempt to discredit him and his book.
I’m reading Endgame and it’s an extraordinary book. I hope it’s a huge success for Scobie AND I hope he stays safe from those who want to do him harm.
The only way I can see Scobie being responsible is if a translator called him and said “ok. Who are the racists” and Scobie said “English libel laws prevent me from disclosing that, however, since you are not publishing in English, I will send you a revised copy. Wink.”
More likely, someone made some notes in the margins that got mistaken for edits.
William is involved. He was the one who told harry to slow things down aka stop the wedding.
William also received an undisclosed sum of money from Murdoch that is the crux for Prince Harry arguing his case for the phone hacking should be allowed to go forward and not penalized for filling ‘too late’.
I truly do not believe that anyone in the Dutch publishing company, Xander, actually inserted KC and Kate into the manuscript. This has been damaging to the publishing industry, the auteursbond (authors’ association) has come up for the translators as have several people who worked with them.
I think whatever manuscript came from HarperCollins, which several of you mentioned is a Murdoch company.
1. Omid did name them in an earlier version and is lying. Either the publisher in the NLs didn’t receive an update or someone in the NLs didn’t send the updated version to the translators.
2. Omid is telling the truth. HarperCollins sent a criminally altered version to the Dutch publishers.
I found out Xander was acquired by a bigger publishing company (WPG) at the end of 2022/ beginning of 2023. Then in May/ June of 2023, the founder and driver of Xander’s success, Sander Knol, left and was succeeded by Anke Roelen. That sounds like it might (I don’t know) be a chaotic situation. Potentially changes to a manuscript could fall between the cracks.
I also found out that HarperCollins published The Betrayal of Anne Frank, which due to cruddy research and inaccuracies led to the Dutch version being pulled from the Dutch market. In July of 2023, the city of Amsterdam asked to be removed from the credits of all English and (other) foreign language editions. The Dutch version was published by a different company, but this might have left a bad taste? Plus, the Murdoch empire isn’t known for its Omid Scobie-like view of the BRF.
https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/07/amsterdam-asks-harper-collins-to-take-name-from-anne-frank-book/
It’s important to figure out how this happened, and it’s very important to focus on the BRF’s racist behavior.
ML, Omid was very clear that nothing he wrote and submitted during the writing process of this book included names. That is such an easy thing to prove or disprove that he would be a fool to lie about it. Omid is not a fool. He had THREE attorneys check this book. This isn’t someone who is going to risk liability, especially when he keeps saying that the names aren’t needed to speak about the issue. He’s right about that.
I’ve worked in trade publishing (i.e. books one would purchase in a bookstore) for more than 30 years for both US-based and UK-based publishers. I find it very, very hard to believe that this was an accident, something an editor (knowing most people in the Netherlands are fluent in English) overlooked. I don’t disagree at all with the leak (they should 100% be called out) but I don’t believe at all that this was an error. As a marketing director, I have only big claps for how they handled it!