Milo Yiannopoulos' bad week continues, resigns from Breitbart
A rough week for Milo Yiannopoulos just got worse.
The noted alt-right internet troll announced on Tuesday that he has resigned from Breitbart, where he had been a senior editor and worked on the website's tech coverage.
The news comes a day after book publisher Simon & Schuster dropped Yiannopoulos following outcry over a video in which he defended sexual relationships between men and young boys.
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"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," he wrote in a statement.
Also on Monday, Yiannopoulos was dropped from his speaking slot at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), one of the premiere events for right-leaning politics in the U.S.
Breitbart issued a statement that said it had accepted his resignation.
At Breitbart, Yiannopoulos grew from a relatively anonymous blogger to a minor celebrity who was often closely associated with the alt-right. In July, he was permanently suspended from Twitter for harassing actress and comedienne Leslie Jones.
Following the election of Donald Trump, Yiannopoulos' star was on the rise. Conservatives glorified him as a free speech advocate, particularly after protesters at U.C. Berkeley were able to cancel one of his speaking events.
The situation drew a tweet from Trump, who appeared to side with Yiannopoulos and threaten the school's federal funds.
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Just a day after Yiannopoulos had reached a new peak with his CPAC gig, conservative and mainstream media began reporting on a video of an interview with Yiannopoulos in which he downplayed sexual assault on young boys perpetrated by older men.
Since then, conservatives who had once backed Yiannopolous have deserted him.
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UPDATE: Feb. 21 2017, 12:44 p.m. PT
At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Yiannopoulos said that he would be announcing "a new, independently-funded media venture" and a live tour in the coming weeks.
He also said that his book, Dangerous, had received interest from other publishers and insisted that it would come out in 2017. Ten percent of the royalties will go to child sex abuse charities, he added.
Topics Politics
Jason Abbruzzese is a Business Reporter at Mashable. He covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the Internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, Jason served as Markets Reporter and Web Producer at the Financial Times. Jason holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an M.A. in International Affairs from Australian National University.
