Costco removes, then puts back, the book 'America' by conservative writer Dinesh D'Souza
The book accompanies a documentary of the same name, titled 'America: Imagine A World Without Her,' which was recently released in theaters.
A shopper pushes a cart outside a Costco location in Danvers, Mass.
Elise Amendola/AP
Costco faced protests after deciding to take the book 鈥�America: Imagine a World Without Her鈥� by Dinesh D鈥橲ouza out of its stores.
According to the , the retailer recently took the book by D鈥橲ouza out of its stores, citing poor sales. However, many, including conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh, protested the decision and said they believed the book was taken out of stores because Costco co-founders Jim Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman are supporters of President Obama. (Both had fundraisers for the president at each of their houses in 2012, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer). D鈥橲ouza is also the author of the books 鈥淥bama鈥檚 America鈥� and 鈥淭he Roots of Obama鈥檚 Rage.鈥� D鈥橲ouza employs what some would view as extreme rhetoric in 鈥淩age,鈥� including writing that he believes that 鈥渢he most powerful country in the world is being governed according to the dreams of a Luo tribesman of the 1950s鈥� [a] philandering, inebriated African socialist.鈥�
D鈥橲ouza is also the director and writer of the documentaries 鈥�2016: Obama鈥檚 America鈥� and 鈥淎merica: Imagine A World Without Her,鈥� the latter of which was released on July 4. 鈥�2016鈥� currently has a score of 28 out of 100 on review aggregator website .
Scott Losse, an inventory control specialist in the book department at the Costco Wholesale corporate office, told the conservative website on July 7 that the company was telling all of its locations to take 鈥淎merica鈥� off its shelves. Many D鈥橲ouza supporters took to the Costco page to write of their displeasure and on his July 8 show, spoke about the decision.
鈥淪ome of the [Costco executives] are going to say, 鈥榃ait a minute. These are our customers,鈥� Limbaugh said. 鈥淪o that would lead to a statement, 鈥榃ait a minute, this isn't political. Don't say that! No, no, no.聽We just pulled the book because it's a loser sales-wise.鈥欌�澛�
D鈥橲ouza spoke with about the removal.
鈥淭his is absolutely unprecedented and the idea that it鈥檚 based upon low sales is preposterous,鈥� he said. 鈥淐ostco features hundreds of books. They even have book signing for people whose books are 10,000, number 85,000 on the Amazon list. So this is clearly a political decision they made. I think it鈥檚 because of their alliance with the Obama administration and now they鈥檙e feeling the heat, so they鈥檙e trying to figure out how to wiggle out of it.鈥�
According to the , on July 8, Costco announced that it would be putting the book back in its stores, but the company cited an increase in sales of the book because of D鈥橲ouza鈥檚 movie 鈥淎merica: Imagine A World Without Her.鈥�
The release of the film caused 鈥渂risk sales at locations still in stock鈥� of D鈥橲ouza鈥檚 book, 鈥渢herefore, we have decided to reorder the book.鈥�
However, the company stated that 鈥淐ostco is not a bookstore. Our book shelf space is very limited.聽We exercise discipline in the best utilization of that limited space based solely on what our members are buying. We can鈥檛 carry every title that our members are interested in reading.聽We are constantly monitoring book sales and make decisions to pull books off the shelves frequently based on volume to make room for other titles.聽 Politics or controversy over content do not influence our decisions.鈥澛�