Netflix Drops ’13 Reasons Why’ Author Over Sexual Harassment

While Netflix has ventured beyond Jay Asher’s original Thirteen Reasons Why novel for its series’ second season, the company publicly distanced the author from involvement in the hit show over apparent allegations of sexual harassment.

“Jay Asher was not involved in the second season of 13 Reasons Why. The upcoming season will not be impacted in any way,” the company told Entertainment Tonight on Wednesday.

The statement comes after the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators confirmed on Sunday that Asher and another author had been expelled from the organization, and were “not welcome as members, faculty or speakers… There is a zero tolerance policy for harassment, there is a preponderance [of] powerful and respected women on our board, on our staff, and in our membership,” executive director Lin Oliver said.

Details of the authors’ violations were not made clear, but an investigation was launched after Asher and others received backlash following a School Library Journal article on sexual harassment in children’s publishing. The article’s comments section was blasted with anonymous comments about 42-year-old Asher and other prominent authors not mentioned in the piece.

On Monday, Asher told BuzzFeed News that he left the organization voluntarily and had been “thrown under the bus” by the allegations.

“It’s very scary when you know people are just not going to believe you once you open your mouth,” Asher said. “I feel very conflicted about it just because of what’s going on in the culture and who’s supposed to be believed and who’s not.”

“I understand the predicament they’re in with everything going on and to want to protect themselves. I love the organization, but they didn’t decide to push me out. It was my decision, even though [Oliver] said the email contained nothing that their organization should have anything to do with,” he added.

Asher’s involvement in Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why apparently ended after the show’s first season, when the series wrapped up the scope of the author’s novel. It is unclear if he had any role in developing the story of season two of the upcoming season, which does not yet have a release date.

The debut season of the Netflix series was modeled after Asher’s young adult novel Thirteen Reasons Why, which centered on high school student Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford) and her classmate Clay listening to the 13 cassette tapes she recorded mapping out the events that led to her death by suicide.

As the company previously revealed, season two will explore the lives of Hannah’s classmates and how her actions affected them.