Sean Spicer’s book tour appearance in Massachusetts has apparently been canceled
The former White House spokesman's publisher says the decision was made "due to the political climate."
Bad news for local Sean Spicer fans who missed the former White House spokesman’s appearance in Boston this spring. It looks like Spicer won’t be returning to Massachusetts for a while.
After launching his new book tour Tuesday in Washington, D.C., the longtime Republican operative and Rhode Island native was scheduled to make a handful of appearances in New England this weekend, including a stop Saturday at the B.J.’s Wholesale Club in Seekonk. Now it appears Spicer’s swing through the region will be limited to his home state.
A spokesperson for Regnery Publishing, the publisher of Spicer’s new memoir, The Briefing, said they received word last Friday that B.J.’s was canceling the event “due to the political climate.” The spokesperson said the agency was “disappointed” and “surprised,” since they have received a “terrific response to all the other events” they had scheduled around the country.
According to the agency, B.J.’s corporate management reached out to them Tuesday to say they wanted to proceed with the event, but employees in Seekonk say Spicer’s appearance is off.
“After two different reporters called the store today to find out why the event had been canceled, we received a note from corporate saying they wanted to proceed as originally planned,” the Regnery spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. “However, there seems to be some confusion because the store is still telling people who call that the event has been canceled.”
The press contacts listed on B.J.’s website did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but an employee who answered the phone at the local Seekonk store Wednesday told Boston.com that Spicer’s appearance had indeed been canceled.
According to WPRI, the event had been “heavily advertised inside the store.” As Fox News, which first reported the cancellation, noted Tuesday, it’s unclear if the store has hosted political events in the past.
Spicer himself told WBZ that he thinks “it’s sad the pressure that the left is putting on some places to shut down, frankly, free speech and the discord of ideas and discussion.” He’s still scheduled to make four stops in Rhode Island, as well as appear at a “private event and signing” in Boston in September.
According to reviews in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and NPR, Spicer’s memoir consists of the former spokesman defending his former boss, President Donald Trump, and “doubling down” on some of the infamous falsehoods he said during his six months behind the White House podium. Massachusetts residents will just have to wait or drive a bit farther to see him do it in person.
