Following the release of video in which controversial right-wing writer Milo Yiannopoulos talks about men having sex with boys, Simon & Schuster has decided to cancel his upcoming book, “Dangerous,” USA Today reports.
“After careful consideration, Simon & Schuster and its Threshold Editions imprint have canceled publication of Dangerous by Milo Yiannopoulos,” the publisher said in a statement Monday.
“They canceled my book,” the British journalist posted on his Facebook page, later adding: “I’ve gone through worse. This will not defeat me.”
The same day, the Conservative Political Action Conference rescinded Yiannopoulos’ invitation. The 33-year-old Breitbart editor was to have been a speaker at the event, which starts this week, before videos came to light on Sunday that contained audio recordings of Yiannopoulos. In the videos, released by the Reagan Battalion blog, Yiannopoulos, who is gay, can be heard talking about his own sexual history, suggesting that some young teen boys could give consent for sex with older men.
“@ACUConservative has decided to rescind the invitation of Milo Yiannopoulos to speak at #CPAC2017.” pic.twitter.com/sVWGnPCW7C
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) February 20, 2017
“We continue to believe that CPAC is a constructive forum for controversies and disagreements among conservatives, however there is no disagreement among our attendees on the evils of sexual abuse of children,” Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union, the event’s organizer, said in a statement, as reported by CNN.
Yiannopoulos was also supposed to be a speaker at the University of California, Berkeley on Feb. 1 when violence broke out during protests and the appearance was canceled.
In a video posted on his Facebook page Monday, Yiannopoulos, who in a previous post called himself a child abuse victim, said he was not an “apologist” for pedophilia.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “I find those crimes to be absolutely disgusting.” He went to say he exposed three pedophiles through his reporting and that portions of the videos released were edited to omit a part where he says he agrees with the current age of consent. Yiannopoulos said his remarks were “stupidly worded,” adding that he had a history of using humor to get through his experiences with sexual abuse. Yiannopoulos also said that at 17, he had a relationship with a 29-year-old man that went on to last 10 years.
Yiannopoulos, who was raised Catholic and whose mother is Jewish, has also been criticized for racist, misogynist, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic remarks. He said his comments about Jews heard in the same recordings — including one he made about Jews being “overrepresented in media and banking” — had also been edited.
Fox Business reports that Breitbart, formerly headed up by current presidential advisor Stephen Bannon, is now considering dismissing Yiannopoulos, whose official title is technology editor.
This is not the first time Simon & Schuster had been hit with criticism over Yiannopoulos’ book.
In January, feminist writer Roxane Gay pulled her forthcoming book, “How to Be Heard,” from TED Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, after the publisher announced it would be publishing Yiannopoulos’ book. Yiannopoulos had reportedly received a $250,000 advance for the book deal.
In July, Yiannopoulos was permanently banned from Twitter after being linked to a wave of racist and sexist harassment that targeted actress and comedian Leslie Jones (“Ghostbusters,” “Saturday Night Live”).
Jones, who had temporarily left Twitter over the abuse, criticized Simon & Schuster for a December statement on the deal with Yiannopoulos, in which it said “… 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.” The publisher also said the views of authors didn’t reflect the company’s views.
“… You still help them spread their hate to even more people,” Jones tweeted.
Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.
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