Readers are skeptical after BDA Publishing allegedly removed its publisher and CEO from public ranks. A statement was released on Tuesday (Mar. 25) after Mel C. Bell reportedly went on a racially insensitive rant online.
“Over the weekend, serious concerns were raised about social media posts made by Mel C. Bell, who has previously held a public-facing role at BDA Publishing as our CEO,” the announcement began. “We want to address these posts directly and acknowledge the harm they caused – particularly to marginalized authors and readers (especially the BIPOC and LatinX communities), survivors of abuse, and the book community as a whole.”
The statement went on to explain how Mel B. “mistakenly identified a Latina author as white while publicly calling her out.” The CEO also addressed an author reportedly arrested for criminal activity by presenting the notion of said arrest being related the contents of the book, which many readers agree is vile. Mel also classified the author’s book as such but created a scenario in which the author was being legally punished for writing such material.
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“This shifted attention away from the very real, immediate harm caused and toward a hypothetical debate that, in this context, is dismissive and deeply hurtful.”
The statement from BDA Publishing appeared strong as it assured readers that its CEO’s actions did not need a “devil’s advocate.” Supporters of the company, however, began to question the sincerity of the post after noting Mel’s position remained the same in the business.
“Would love some clarification around whether she still has a role with the company,” one Instagram fan wrote in response to the statement. “From your statement, it appears that she does, just no longer public-facing,” the supporter added.
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“I’m certainly not calling for someone to lose their livelihood. However, I feel artists and consumers deserve to know who exactly they are supporting, even if their role is no longer public-facing.”
BDA Publishing clarified the role of its CEO in the comments section of its original Instagram post. “Her role in the company has only been public-facing up until now (she did most of our YouTube and Patreon content)(in addition to funding the company and our pay) so our plan is to ensure she’s no longer involved in anything except for her funding our company,” the publisher shared.
“We’re hearing that some people would like her removed from the company completely, but doing so would mean our authors lose a publisher and we lose our jobs since we’d flat out have no money to continue,” the response continued. “We’re prioritizing figuring this out, though. It just might take a little time.”
Mel B.’s profile as owner and CEO remains on the BDA Publishing website.