Author James Patterson said in a new interview that he worries it’s becoming harder for white male writers to get jobs as writers in film, TV or publishing, claiming that this makes them victim to “another form of racism.”
Patterson, 75, who is one of the world’s best selling authors and has two books on the New York Times bestsellers list, made the comments in an interview with The Times UK on Sunday. He says the problem is “just another form of racism. What’s that all about?” he muses. “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.”
Patterson’s comments were in context of some of his early success being a white writer telling a story about a Black detective with the “Alex Cross” series of books, some of which have been adapted into feature films.
Elsewhere in the interview, Patterson also said he almost always falls “on the side of free speech” and commented on people at his publisher Little, Brown staging a walkout over the publication of Woody Allen’s recent memoir.
“I hated that,” he says. “He has the right to tell his own story,” he said, explaining that he disapproves of actors or public figures speaking ignorantly about subjects gleaned from the internet. “Do I know what went on between Allen and the Farrows?” he asks in his memoir. “Nope. And neither do you.”
One of his most recent titles, “Run, Rose, Run,” which he co-wrote with Dolly Parton, was also recently acquired by Sony to be turned into a film and will also star Parton. Patterson also has the book “Woman’s Murder Mystery” on the NYT Best Sellers list with his regular co-writer Maxine Paetro.
Read the full interview with Patterson here.
