PEN America announced on Sunday their intention to honor Charlie Hebdo’s surviving staff with the Freedom of Expression Courage award at their May 5 Gala. The novelists Peter Carey, Michael Ondaatje, Francine Prose, Teju Cole, Rachel Kushner, and Taiye Selasi have withdrawn as hosts of the ceremony, claiming the French magazine promotes hate speech and racism. Salman Rushdie, a former PEN president, has now criticized the authors for their withdrawal, saying:
“If PEN as a free speech organization can’t defend and celebrate people who have been murdered for drawing pictures, then frankly the organization is not worth the name. What I would say to both Peter and Michael and the others is, I hope nobody ever comes after them.”
One response
Writers like Salman Rushdie, V.S. Naipaul, and even Ayaan Hirsi Ali — as much as I may disagree with them about generalizing Muslims — are writers and communicate ideas. Charlie Hebdo, sorry to say, is MAD Magazine elevated insanely to something it never was. If Pamela Geller and her merry bunch of Islamophobes wants to hand out an award to Charlie Hebdo, fine. But PEN does not.
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