After outrage barely began of right wing conservative Milo Yiannopoulos receiving a six-figure book deal from Simon Schuster, the deal was quickly revoked. After posting a brief comment on his Facebook page, Milo confirmed the cancellation.
Yiannopoulos, a public speaker built on the ideology of using outrageous claims to gain popularity from Republicans, has recently held his place in the headlines. Footage from a January 2016 feature of the podcast Drunken Peasants has surfaced and gained traction. The episode shows Yiannopoulos allegedly defending sexual interactions between juvenile boys and adult men.
In the episode, Yiannopoulos explains his personal views and experiences: “Some of those relationships between younger boys and older men, the sort of coming-of-age relationships, the relationships in which those older men help those young boys to discover who they are, and give them security and safety and provide them with love and a reliable and sort of a rock where they can’t speak to their parents.”
Following his standard procedure of weaving in attempts at humor during controversial content, Yiannopoulos continues: “I’m grateful for Father Michael, I wouldn’t give nearly such good [oral sex] if it wasn’t for him.” He then argues that “pedophilia is attraction to children who have not reached puberty. Pedophilia is attraction to people who don’t have functioning sex organs yet who have not gone through puberty.”
After extreme outrage from both liberals and conservatives, Yiannopoulos took to Facebook to address the flurry of comments.
“The videos do not show what people say they show. I *did* joke about giving better head as a result of clerical sexual abuse committed against me when I was a teen. If I choose to deal in an edgy way on an internet live stream with a crime I was the victim of that’s my prerogative.”
Milo continued to defend his controversial standpoint by discussing his past experiences of personal child abuse on his Facebook page: “This week, for political gain, the media, and the Republican establishment accused a child abuse victim of enabling child abuse. It’s sick. But they have not killed me. They have only made me stronger.”
He further attempted to justify his views by discussing his role as a child abuse victim: “My experiences as a victim led me to believe I could say anything I wanted to on this subject, no matter how outrageous.” Yiannopoulos continued to relay his “disgust” for pedophilia and child abuse, enforcing his apology for his previous statements.
Despite his apology, Yiannopoulos promised to continue his practice of gaining media attention through offense speech: “Don’t think for a moment that anything that has happened in the last 48 hours will ever stop me being as offensive, provocative, and outrageously funny as I chose on any subject that I please.”
After continued outrage and controversy, Yiannopoulos resigned from his position as senior editor at Breitbart News. During a press conference addressing his comments, Yiannopoulos proclaimed that he would be continuing his speaking tours and book plans independently, donating a portion of his own proceeds to anti-child abuse foundations.
Photo source: money.cnn.com
Why should Milo’s book deal be dropped because he had the courage to talk openly and honestly about what happened to his at age 13? What kind of message does this send to victims of sexual assault? Make sure you never talk about what happened to you in a way that might be “disgusting” to other people. No wonder so few victims of sexual assault forward. Let’s stop blaming the victim.