Thursday evening Penguin Press announced it will cancel the book due for publication next spring from Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, the third in their Game Change series. The publisher said in a brief statement: “In light of the recent news regarding Mark Halperin, the Penguin Press has decided to cancel our plans to publish a book he was co-authoring on the 2016 election.” 
 
 Penguin Press’s announcement came after HBO said they were “no longer proceeding with” a planned production based on the forthcoming book. “HBO has no tolerance for sexual harassment within the company or its productions,” the network said. 

 MSNBC, where Mr. Halperin was an analyst on the influential show “Morning Joe,” said he would no longer serve as a contributor. HBO dropped a planned television adaptation of Mr. Halperin’s upcoming book about the 2016 presidential election. And by Thursday evening, his publisher, Penguin Press, said in a statement that it had canceled plans for the book entirely, “in light of the recent news.” 
 
 In a statement, Mr. Halperin denied any nonconsensual contact with the women who spoke to CNN, but he apologized for his behavior with his ABC News colleagues. 
 
 “During this period, I did pursue relationships with women that I worked with, including some junior to me,” Mr. Halperin said through a spokesman. “I now understand from these accounts that my behavior was inappropriate and caused others pain. For that, I am deeply sorry and I apologize. Under the circumstances, I’m going to take a step back from my day-to-day work while I properly deal with this situation.” 
 
 Mr. Halperin left ABC News 10 years ago, and a network spokesman said on Thursday that no complaints had been filed about him during his tenure. 
 
 The speed with which Mr. Halperin lost major television and book projects — his account of the 2016 election was among the most anticipated publishing releases of next year — reflected a growing national discussion about the misbehavior of powerful men. Mr. Halperin’s role as a chronicler of the race between Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump also put him at the center of an election that was defined by intense debates over gender, power, and the consequences of sexual harassment.
– The unraveling of Mark Halperin's once-soaring media career continues: NBC News and MSNBC have fired him in the wake of multiple allegations of sexual harassment lodged by women who once worked with him. Halperin had been a political analyst for NBC and a frequent guest on MSNBC's Morning Joe program, notes CNN. The allegations are from five women who worked with Halperin when he was at ABC News. He has apologized for his treatment of the women but denied the more salacious claims, including that he pressed his genitals against women and masturbated in front of them. He denies any nonconsensual sexual contact. The termination of his NBC contract is just the latest hit to Halperin's career. HBO canceled an adaptation of an upcoming book about the 2016 race, reports the New York Times, and publisher Penguin Press then canceled the book itself, which had been due in the spring. The book had been highly anticipated, given that Halperin's account of the 2008 race, Game Change, had been a best-seller and helped secure Halperin's reputation as a political analyst.