If Judith Regan made anti-Semitic remarks that led to her firing from HarperCollins, here's what she might have said.
Regan was canned from her position at the publishing house last week after she reportedly complained of a "Jewish cabal" against her in a heated telephone conversation with a HarperCollins attorney.
News Corp. took the unusual step of releasing attorney Mark Jackson's notes on his conversation with Regan after she hired high-powered attorney Bert Fields (aka Tom Cruise's lawyer) to deny the allegations against her and contest her dismissal.
HarperCollins announced Regan's termination via press release Friday, in the wake of the public outcry set off by the yanked O.J. Simpson pseudoconfessional If I Did It, in which Simpson was to offer a hypothetical scenario of how he would have slain Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, had he actually done it.
Regan, who shelled out $3.5 million to land the deal with Simpson, reportedly complained to Jackson that HarperCollins had failed to support her amid the controversy surrounding the book and TV special.
"Of all people, the Jews should know about ganging up, finding common enemies and telling the big lie," Jackson quoted Regan as saying.
According to the notes, Regan also stated that her boss, HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman, along with executive editor David Hirshey and literary agent Esther Newberg "constitute a Jewish cabal against her."
Regan reportedly made the remarks in a conversation about the future of an upcoming "fictional biography" of Mickey Mantle from her ReganBooks imprint that was attracting negative publicity for its highly sexed contents.
However, Fields denied Monday that Regan had used the phrase "Jewish cabal," claiming that she had simply said "cabal."
He acknowledged that she had made some form of the prior statement in reference to the religious affiliation of her former boss and other HarperCollins employees involved in the O.J. scandal, but denied that it was anti-Semitic in nature.
"There is nothing insulting to Jewish people in saying that Jews should particularly understand what it is to be victims of the big lie," Fields told the New York Times. "They were looking for an excuse to fire her, and they fired her, and called it anti-Semitic. It ain't anti-Semitic."
And even had Regan used the phrase "Jewish cabal," Fields said he wouldn't consider that anti-Semitic either.
"I want to make it clear that had she said it, even that is not an anti-Semitic remark," he said. "Had she said it, I wouldn't be offended, as a Jew."
Fields may not offend easily, but the Anti-Defamation League was sufficiently roused by the accounts of Regan's remarks to issue a statement denouncing them.
"One can only wonder what motivated Judith Regan to make a Jewish issue out of her dispute with the News Corporation's HarperCollins," ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman said in a statement. "If Ms. Regan did make the charge that a Jewish cabal was conspiring against her, she clearly stepped over the line by employing the age-old anti-Semitic canard that Jews conspire against non-Jews. She also gives credence to the conspiracy theory that Jews control the media."
Fields said he planned to file a lawsuit against HarperCollins for dismissing Regan in breach of her contract.
"She has performed brilliantly for this company. She's brought in a great deal of money, and she'll be suing for every penny that's coming to her," Fields told the Los Angeles Times.
He did not specify how many pennies that might be.
Regan's previous successes for HarperCollins include Jenna Jameson's best-selling memoir, How to Make Love Like a Porn Star, and Jose Canseco's steroid diary, Juiced.
The publishing house announced Saturday that Regan's longtime editorial director, Cal Morgan, would take over leadership of her ReganBooks division.
Meanwhile, Ron Goldman's parents filed a federal suit against Simpson Tuesday, alleging that he fraudulently profited from the book deal, rather than using the money to pay damages owed to the family as the result of the wrongful death judgment against him.
A lawyer for the Goldmans stated that Regan, News Corp. and HarperCollins would likely be added to the suit as defendants, in addition to Simpson.
"I look forward to learning through this process who all worked with the killer to profit from the death of my son," Fred Goldman said in a statement. "We will not stop until we are able to shine the light of truth on those [who] acted in concert with him."