UPDATED Tuesday, February 21, 2:50 pm
Milo Yiannopolis has resigned as technology editor at Breitbart News, the far-right white nationalist website.
“Breitbart News has stood by me when others caved,” said Yiannopoulos in a statement. “I would be wrong to allow my poor choice of words to detract from my colleagues’ important reporting, so today I am resigning from Breitbart, effective immediately. This decision is mine alone.”
His “poor choice of words” was an endorsement of sexual relationships between adults and teenagers.
“Milo Yiannopoulos’s bold voice has sparked much-needed debate on important cultural topics confronting universities, the LGBTQ community, the press, and the tech industry,” the statement quotes Breitbart management as saying. “Milo notified us this morning of his decision to resign as editor of Breitbart Tech and we accepted his resignation.”
Original Story:
What does it take for the right to disown a racist?
Pedophilia, as it turns out.
The American Conservative Union on Monday uninvited internet provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos from a speaking engagement at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) after video surfaced of an interview in which he appeared to condone, or at least attempt to normalize, sexual relationships between adult men and boys. He also called the entire concept of consent “arbitrary.”
Yiannopoulos styles himself as a “troll” — one who purposefully causes trouble online. He managed to get himself permanently banned from Twitter — not easy to do — for inciting racist invective against comedian Leslie Jones and others.
He’s also a senior editor at Breitbart, known for its race-baiting and white nationalist viewpoint.
Yinnopoulos has been a polarizing figure in mainstream America. He had a speaking engagement at UC Berkeley cancelled recently when protests against him and his ultra-right-wing message turned violent.
None of that has seemed to bother the conservative establishment or the Republican Party. In fact, President Trump threatened to pull federal funding to UC Berkely over the protests against Yiannopolous.
But the sanctioning of adult relationships with children — which Yiannopolous has chalked up to deceptive editing and “British sarcasm” — is apparently a bridge too far, even for the far right.
Also on Monday, publisher Simon & Schuster pulled the plug on Yinnopolous’s book, Dangerous, which had been slated for a June release.
And there’s word that it might be too far even for the far-right, white nationalist website Breitbart News — Fox Business reports that Breitbart management are weighing their options. If he does get the boot, it won’t be on moral grounds — senior executives there are considering how “damaging his comments are to the Breitbart brand,” one person familiar with the matter told Fox Business.
