Milo Yiannopoulos landed an unpaid writing gig, then lost it and got his editor fired
Bite at the universe, and occasionally, the universe will, in fact, bite back.
So goes the most recent development in the saga of noted troll and ex-Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos's rough week. On Thursday he lost his biggest benefactor, conservative billionaire Robert Mercer. And now, not only is he out of a job, but -- get this -- his presence with his latest employer was so toxic that the guy who hired him is now apparently out on his ass as well.
A brief recap: Back in February, a video from a 2016 podcast surfaced in which Milo defended the idea of relationships between grown men and young boys. "You’re misunderstanding what pedophilia means,” he said on the podcast. "Pedophilia is not a sexual attraction to somebody 13 years old who is sexually mature. Pedophilia is attraction to children who have not reached puberty."
In spite of Milo's subsequent efforts to walk those comments back, the uproar around the video cost him both a book deal and his Breitbart job.
Then, in early October, an extensive Buzzfeed report detailed -- with help from leaked emails and other documents -- Milo's connections within the broader tech media space, his source of funding (Mercer), and his reliance on the counsel of known fascists and racists.
It was a bad look at the time, and Mercer's abandonment of Milo earlier this week is likely a direct result of that report. As Mercer's public statement read:
I supported Milo Yiannopoulos in the hope and expectation that his expression of views contrary to the social mainstream and his spotlighting of the hypocrisy of those who would close down free speech in the name of political correctness would promote the type of open debate and freedom of thought that is being throttled on many American college campuses today. But in my opinion, actions of and statements by Mr. Yiannopoulos have caused pain and divisiveness undermining the open and productive discourse that I had hoped to facilitate. I was mistaken to have supported him, and for several weeks have been in the process of severing all ties with him.
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On Friday, news surfaced that Milo had found a new gig, writing a weekly column for The Daily Caller. His first piece, "A Round of Applause for Kevin Spacey," focused on the actor's widely criticized response to recent allegations of sexual misconduct, in which he came out as homosexual while sort-of-but-not-really owning his past actions.
The substance of Milo's opinion piece is irrelevant here, but its presence on The Daily Caller prompted a vigorous round of criticism. When ThinkProgress reached out to the site for more details, Editor in Chief Geoffrey Ingersoll responded with a brief clarifying statement:
"We approached him to contribute an oped on Spacey, having experience particular to the case, and he countered, offering a weekly column. We agreed."
Ingersoll added that Milo's work for The Daily Caller was unpaid. This happened on Friday.
By Saturday morning, Milo's author bio on the site had been mysteriously edited to remove any mention of the weekly column.
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A new comment request went out, and this time ThinkProgress heard back from The Daily Caller co-founder Neil Patel. He denied reports of Milo having been hired ("He does not work for us. He has never worked for us.") and defended the site's publishing of the Milo op-ed.
In response, Milo took to Facebook (he was banned from Twitter long ago) with a statement blaming "outrage mobs, Twitter protests and frothing establishment Republicans" for his lost column. He also shared an email proving his weekly commitment to The Daily Caller, and noted that Robert Mariani -- the site's opinion editor -- had been fired.
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It might not be nice to exult in someone else's misfortune, but in this case and with a guy like this, it sure is fun.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
