Names and faces

The organizers of this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference on Monday rescinded their invitation

Yiannopoulos of Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos after critics of the right-wing speaker re-posted old videos of him criticizing age of consent laws and joking about a sexual encounter as a teen with a Catholic priest. Hours after the announcement from the American Conservative Union — which founded and hosts the conference — Yiannopoulos’ publisher canceled his book Dangerous, which had been scheduled to come out in June. The conservative group’s chairman, Matt Schlapp, said in a statement: “Due to the revelation of an offensive video in the past 24 hours condoning pedophilia, the American Conservative Union has decided to rescind the invitation.” He added, “We realize that Mr. Yiannopoulos has responded on Facebook, but it is insufficient.” A group called the Reagan Battalion tweeted video clips Sunday in which Yiannopoulos discusses Jews, sexual consent, statutory rape, child abuse and homosexuality. Yiannopoulos took to Facebook on Sunday night and again on Monday to defend himself. He first suggested he was a victim of “selectively edited videos” as well as his own “sloppy phrasing” for any indication he supported pedophilia. “My own experiences as a victim led me to believe I could say anything I wanted to on this subject, no matter how outrageous. But I understand that my usual blend of British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humor might have come across as flippancy, a lack of care for other victims or, worse, ‘advocacy.’ I deeply regret that.”