Canned at Christmas: Murdoch Axes O.J. Publisher

Dec. 16, 2006 — -- Just what does media giant Rupert Murdoch get his top book publisher, Judith Regan, for Christmas?

Apparently, a permanent vacation.

Regan, who recently made headlines for planning, then pulling, O.J. Simpson's quasi-confession, "If I Did It," was fired Friday by HarperCollins, a subsidiary of Murdoch's News Corp. Word broke during the company's holiday party.

"Judith Regan's employment with HarperCollins has been terminated effective immediately," Jane Friedman, HarperCollins CEO, said in a statement.

Regan first teamed with Murdoch in 1994. She ran her own publishing imprint, Regan Books, and has put out works from such major names as Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, Jose Canseco, Eminem and porn star Jenna Jameson.

"It's a shock," said David Hauslaib, publisher and editor of the New York media gossip blog, Jossip. "Judith Regan is such an asset to her publishing imprint, to HarperCollins, to News Corp. as a whole. This is really important, because you have this blockbuster personality who is suddenly axed from the publishing house she built, made a name for, and has really delivered for. She does great things for the News Corp. bottom line."

Success and Scandal

Regan is well-known for being both wildly successful and wildly scandalous.

"I hesitate to call Judith a diva, but certainly that's the reputation that's attached to her," Hauslaib said. "She makes and breaks writers."

A former National Enquirer reporter, she has been called the "enfant terrible of American publishing." Regan is envied by many in the business for the press she covets. Some of the attention falls on her books, and the rest on scandal in her private life.

Regan's first husband was convicted of drug trafficking. Divorcing her second husband took around eight years, three trials and millions of dollars in legal fees. And, in 2004, she is rumored to have had an affair with former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who failed in a bid to be Homeland Security secretary.

Taking on Murdoch

When word broke that Regan was putting out a book in which O.J. describes what he would have done if he had committed the murders, the public outcry was swift. The families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were outraged. Murdoch stepped in and, despite the millions already sunk in the project, nixed the book the day before it shipped. He also cancelled a taped interview Regan did with Simpson that was to air on the Fox network.

"I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," Murdoch said. "We are sorry for any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."

"Rupert Murdoch does not back down," Hauslaib said, "and to have him publicly acknowledge a mistake and apologize to Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman's families is quite out of character."

Hauslaib predicts Regan will bounce back.

"I wouldn't be surprised if her phone is already ringing with offers from other houses," he said. "She remains almost irreplaceable. … It's a very competitive industry and she's at the top of the game."