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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 21 February 2017

Conservative group cancels speech by Milo Yiannopoulos

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Right- others and last summer ship when he was 17 with a
wing provocateur Milo Yi- helped instigate a harass- man who was 29. The age
annopoulos has been dis- ment campaign against of consent in the U.K. is 16.
invited to this year’s Con- “Ghostbusters” star Leslie It’s unclear who edited the
servative Political Action Jones that led to his banish- videos.
Conference after his at- ment from Twitter. “We realize that Mr. Yian-
tempt to clarify past com- More than 100 Simon & nopoulos has responded
ments on relationships be- Schuster authors had ob- on Facebook, but it is insuf-
tween boys and older men jected to his book deal, ficient,” Schlapp said. “We
fell flat with organizers. which was announced last urge him to immediately
Hours later, his publisher December, and Roxane further address these dis-
cancelled his book “Dan- Gay withdrew a planned turbing comments.”
gerous,” which had been book. Some bookstores Schlapp said the invita-
scheduled to come out in had said they would not tion was initially extended
June. In this Jan. 25, 2017, file photo, Milo Yiannopoulos speaks on sell it, although the Na- knowing that free speech
The American Conserva- campus in the Mathematics building at the University of Colo- tional Coalition Against on college campuses is
tive Union founded and rado in Boulder, Colo. Censorship and other free a “battlefield where we
hosts CPAC, is being held Associated Press speech organizations had need brave, conservative
Wednesday through Satur- defended the publisher. standard-bearers.”
day outside Washington. In ing of age’ relationship — “Censorship & Politics.” Threshold is a conservative But he added: “There is no
a tweet on Monday, ACU those relationships in which Simon & Schuster did not imprint that has published disagreement among our
chairman Matt Schlapp those older men help those offer any specific reason books by President Don- attendees on the evils of
said that “due to the rev- young boys discover who for pulling “Dangerous.” In ald Trump, who has de- sexual abuse of children.”
elation of an offensive they are and give them se- Facebook postings Mon- fended Yiannopoulos, and Breitbart is considered by
video in the past 24 hours curity and safety and pro- day night, Yiannopoulous former Vice President Dick many a platform for the
condoning pedophilia, the vide them with love and a wrote “They canceled Cheney, among others. so-called “alt-right” move-
American Conservative reliable, sort of rock, where my book” and “I’ve gone On Facebook, Yiannopou- ment, an offshoot of con-
Union has decided to re- they can’t speak to their through worse. This will not los blamed deceptive ed- servatism that mixes racism,
scind the invitation of Milo parents,” he said. defeat me.” iting and his own “sloppy white nationalism and pop-
Yiannopoulos to speak.” Later Monday, Simon & Yiannopoulos is known for phrasing” for any indication ulism. Its former executive
After the polarizing Breit- Schuster and its Threshold his vicious criticism of wom- he supported pedophilia. chairman, Steve Bannon,
bart News editor was in- Editions imprint announced en and Muslims among The British author said he is a now a senior adviser to
vited, his invitation sparked that “after careful consid- spoke of his own relation- President Trump.q
a backlash. The conserva- eration” they had pulled
tive Reagan Battalion blog the book, for which pre-
tweeted video clips Sun- orders placed it high on
day in which Yiannopou- Amazon.com’s best-seller
los discussed Jews, sexual lists. The subject of intense
consent, statutory rape, controversy from the start,
child abuse and homosex- “Dangerous” was originally
uality. scheduled to come out in
In one clip, Yiannopoulos March. But Yiannopoulos
defends sexual relation- pushed back the release
ships between men and to June so he could write
boys as young as 13 years about the protests during
old. He also speaks approv- his recent campus tour,
ingly of his own sexual rela- including a cancelled ap-
tionship with a 29-yeare- pearance at the University
old priest when he was 17. of California, Berkeley.
“In the homosexual world, At the time of his publisher’s
particularly, some of those decision Monday, “Dan-
relationships between gerous” ranked No. 83 on
younger boys and older Amazon’s overall list and
men — the sort of ‘com- No. 1 in the subcategory of