at 23:00 on December 15, 2006, EST.
By HILLEL ITALIE

NEW YORK (AP) - O.J. Simpson's would-be publisher, Judith Regan, was fired Friday, her sensational, scandalous tenure at Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. ending with the tersest of announcements.

"Judith Regan's employment with HarperCollins has been terminated effective immediately," HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman said in a statement. "The Regan publishing program and staff will continue as part of the HarperCollins General Books Group."

Friedman offered no reason for the announcement, but it came less than a month after Murdoch's cancellation of Simpson's hypothetical murder confession, "If I Did It," a planned book and Fox television interview that was greeted with instant and near-universal disgust.

An industry force since the 1980s, when she produced bestsellers by Drew Barrymore and Kathie Lee Gifford for Simon & Schuster, Regan has been labelled a "foul-mouthed tyrant" and the "enfant terrible of American publishing."

She is also widely envied - if not admired - for her gift of attracting attention to her books and to herself.

Since 1994, she has headed the ReganBooks imprint at News Corp.'s HarperCollins, an ideal fit for Murdoch's tabloid tastes.

Regan has published a long list of racy titles including Jose Canseco's "Juiced" and Jenna Jameson's "How to Make Love Like a Porn Star." She is also a subject for gossip columnists, notably for a rumoured affair with a former New York City police commissioner.

She often clashed with more temperate peers and last year moved her office to Los Angeles, distancing herself from corporate officials in New York.

Longtime ReganBooks author Jess Walter said he was "flabbergasted" by her firing.

"I think Judith was misunderstood by people," said Walter, a National Book Award finalist last month for his novel, "The Zero."

"The Judith I knew was nothing like the tabloid headlines," he said. "Judith has always been a good friend and one of the few people who never lied to me. Having dealt with publishing and Hollywood, I can't say that about everyone."

Regan has often complained that her more literary side has been overlooked, pointing out that she published books by Wally Lamb, Douglas Coupland and Jess Walter.

The Simpson project, announced the day before the National Book Award ceremony, overshadowed Walter's nomination.


©The Canadian Press, 2006

wow

And what about all the people who green-lighted the project? Can you say "scapegoat"? And did all of those ReganBooks purchase themselves?

Hypocrisy: ya gotta love it.

Ace said:

Especially the hypocrisy over the verdict. I didn't hear all this outrage in other trials(Rodney King, Robert Blake). Believe me, if O.J. did this to his first wife, it wouldn't have been the "Trial of the Century", and the pundits wouldn't be screaming for jury nullification.

uPtoWnNY said:

Gotta respectfully disagree. While America is rife with hypocrisy (hell, it's practically our national pastime), I heard plenty of outrage over the King and Blake verdicts and I don't believe that the colour of the victim's skin had anything to do with the reaction to the O.J. trial.

Ironically, she published both Rush Limbaugh's and Michael Moore's books. Yea, she is an awful cancer on publishing and it is good to see her pack her bags. And proud of Beverly for being such an avid reader of the news. Trained her well..lol kiss