After reportedly offering alt-right troll Milo Yiannopoulos a $250,000 book deal, Simon & Schuster is now doing some damage control. The publisher defended the controversial move to publish an autobiographical work by Yiannopoulos with a statement on Twitter regarding the acquisition by Threshold Editions, its conservative imprint:

We do not and have never condoned discrimination or hate speech in any form. At Simon & Schuster we have always published books by a wide range of authors with greatly varying, and frequently controversial opinions, and appealing to many different audiences of readers. While we are cognizant that many may disagree vehemently with the books we publish we note that the opinions expressed therein belong to our authors, and do not reflect either a corporate viewpoint or the views of our employees.

One person who isn’t buying this defense? Leslie Jones, who was once the target of a racist, sexist campaign of online harassment led by Yiannopoulos that was so severe Jones had to temporarily quit Twitter. Yiannopoulos’ account was subsequently banned, but the damage had been done, and, needless to say, Jones now seems unimpressed with Simon & Schuster’s explanation for giving a ludicrous book deal to the man who so publicly made her social media presence “a personal hell.”

yea but you still help them spread their hate to even more people. — Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) January 2, 2017

Simon & Schuster’s defense is a common one for publishers putting out controversial titles, and it boils down to the argument that publishing Yiannopoulos’ book is not the same as condoning his views. But as Jones points out, despite claiming innocence, the Simon & Schuster book deal will give Yiannopoulos exactly what Twitter took away: a mainstream platform, one beyond the extremely right-wing Breitbart, that he can use to spread those views, which include disdain for women, Muslims, and transgender people, among others.

Not to mention, they’re giving him a bundle of money to do so.