Magazine folds on Bannon invitation

Facing widespread outrage, The

New Yorker has dropped plans to interview Steve Bannon during its festival next month.

New Yorker editor David Remnick told The Associated Press in a statement shared yesterday with the magazine’s staff that he had changed his mind. The former Donald Trump aide and ex-chairman of Breitbart News was supposed to be a featured guest during a prestigious gathering that over the years has drawn some of the world’s most prominent artists and public figures. This year’s guests include Emily Blunt, Zadie Smith and Sally Yates, who Trump fired as deputy attorney general after she refused to back his initial ban on travellers from Muslim countries. The ban was advocated by Bannon, a senior White House adviser at the time.

‘‘I’ve thought this through and talked to colleagues – and I’ve reconsidered,’’ Remnick, who has repeatedly denounced Trump and his administration, wrote of his decision on Bannon. ‘‘There is a better way to do this. Our writers have interviewed Steve Bannon for The New Yorker before, and if the opportunity presents itself I’ll interview him in a more traditionally journalistic setting as we first discussed, and not on stage.’’ 7Remnick also acknowledged that festival guests, unlike those interviewed on radio or for a print story, are paid an honorarium, along with money for travel and lodging.

In an email statement yesterday, Bannon wrote: ‘‘After being contacted several months ago and with seven weeks of continual requests for this event, I accepted The New Yorker’s invitation with no thought of an honorarium.’’

‘‘The reason for my acceptance was simple: I would be facing one of the most fearless journalists of his generation. In what I would call a defining moment, David Remnick showed he was gutless when confronted by the howling online mob,’’ he added. –AP