Book publisher Karen Hunter does not know how to hold her tongue. Not that she has any desire to learn. After all, silence would deny the world of such witticisms as Hunter saying that Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney might be “running for president of Caucasia-stan,” because of a GOP ad that was devoid of people of color.
“Did he say, ‘This time we’ll get it white’?,” Hunter joked on air in an interview with Thomas Roberts on MSNBC. Mocking Romney’s “this time, we’ll get it right” narration in his commercial, the dig by the frank and funny Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and MSNBC analyst ruffled feathers. But Hunter was more bemused than anything.
“Wait, we can’t talk about white people for being white?” Hunter asked during her interview with theGrio, shrugging the whole ordeal off. “That’s really bizarre for me. How do you really cultivate a truthful exchange with your audience, because now you have to watch your mouth or watch what you write?”
And if there is anything Hunter does in her publishing business, it is to go for the jugular of truth. When Hunter “goes in” on someone – whether it is Mitt Romney or on the behalf of her clients, like the mother of all momagers, Kris Jenner – it’s no holds barred. She’s unapologetically bold, unapologetically blunt and always unapologetically black. “[T]hat’s how I’m approaching this publishing thing. I know that I’m very, very black. Both in agenda and voice,” Hunter said.
Hunter founded Karen Hunter Publishing in 2007, because the “luster is off” as she put it regarding the power of big media companies. “They’re all folding, closing down. When you read a book, do you look at the label or for who the publisher is? You just care about the end result. I can’t tell you what record label Chris Brown on.” Karen Hunter Publishing is taking advantage of this shifting landscape to great success.
Hunter’s products — works by huge celebrities such as Janet Jackson, Patti LaBelle and Kris Jenner — are now being published under her own imprint, but she started her career as a reporter. As a writer for the Daily News, Hunter covered sports and then crime. In her closing years there, Karen became the first black columnist in Daily News history.
Source: The Grio
