Editor’s book deal cancelled

PUBLISHER Simon & Schuster announced on Monday that it had cancelled Breitbart editor, Milo Yiannopoulos’s, book deal, the latest development in the growing backlash over resurfaced videos of the far-right provocateur criticising age-of-consent laws.

A statement from the publishing house offered little explanation: “After careful consideration, Simon & Schuster... have cancelled publication of Dangerous by Milo Yiannopoulos.”

Organisers of the Conservative Political Action Conference rescinded their invitation for him to participate at this week’s conference. “Due to the revelation of an offensive video in the past 24 hours condoning paedophilia, the American Conservative Union has decided to rescind the invitation,” chairperson Matt Schlapp said. The videos have been available for years, but resurfaced on social media at the weekend. Yiannopoulos jokes about a teenage sexual encounter with a Catholic priest and argues about age-of-consent laws.

The controversial Breitbart editor defended himself on Facebook, saying he did not support paedophilia, and “I am certainly guilty of imprecise language, which I regret.”

By Monday afternoon, though, the outcry of the videos led to discussions at Breitbart over the editor’s future at the company. – The Washington Post