Milo Yiannopoulos, the incendiary writer and commentator who helped make Breitbart News a leading organ of the "alt-right," resigned from the news organization Tuesday after a video of him endorsing pedophilia surfaced online over the weekend.

Yiannopoulos - known simply as MILO in Breitbart's own coverage of him - has been a flame-throwing provocateur whose writing has offended women, Muslims, blacks and gay people ever since former Breitbart executive chairman Stephen K. Bannon hired him as a senior editor in 2014.

Bannon, now President Donald Trump's senior adviser, championed the British-born Yiannopoulos's inflammatory commentary and promoted him as a conservative truth teller and champion of free speech. In turn, his popularity helped raise Breitbart's profile among Trump's supporters and the "alt-right," a vaguely defined collection of nationalists, anti-immigration proponents, and anti-establishment conservatives.

"Breitbart News has stood by me when others caved. They have allowed me to carry conservative and libertarian ideas to communities that would otherwise never have heard them," Yiannopoulos said in a statement. "They have been a significant factor in my success. I'm grateful for that freedom and for the friendships I forged there."

"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 added.

"Milo Yiannopoulos's bold voice has sparked much-needed debate on important cultural topics confronting universities, the LGBTQ community, the press, and the tech industry," the publication said in a statement Tuesday. It said Yiannopoulos decided to resign Tuesday morning and "we accepted his resignation."

As recently as last week, Breitbart editor Alexander Marlow called Yiannopoulos "the No. 1 free speech warrior of his generation in America at the moment" in an interview.

But Yiannopoulous's views on pedophilia apparently went too far even for Breitbart.

On his Sirius XM radio program on Tuesday, Marlow called Yiannopoulos's comments "indefensible" and "appalling." He said, "It's all very upsetting and something we take very seriously at Breitbart," but he made no comment about his future with the site.

Breitbart was under pressure to take action against Yiannopoulos, 32, by its own staff, which had threatened an internal revolt if he wasn't fired or disciplined, according to people familiar with the discussions.

In a video interview early last year, Yiannopoulos bantered with the hosts of a podcast called "The Drunken Peasants" for nearly three hours. As the lengthy discussion veered into pedophilia, he condoned sexual relations with boys as young as 13 and joked about a sexual encounter he said he had with a Catholic priest as a teenager.

"You're misunderstanding what pedophilia means," he told the hosts. "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." He adds that consent by minors is "arbitrary and oppressive."

A group called the Reagan Battalion was among those calling attention to the interview to highlight its opposition to Yiannopoulos's speaking role at the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington.

The reemergence of the video over the weekend triggered a cascade of adverse consequences for Yiannopoulos.

First, CPAC's organizer, the American Conservative Union, rescinded its invitation to him as a conference speaker. The group's chairman said in a statement that the organization found his comments "disturbing" and the video "offensive."

Then Simon & Schuster canceled an agreement to publish Yiannopoulos's forthcoming memoir, "Dangerous," for which it paid him a $250,000 advance. The publisher said it decided to cancel the book - which had drawn protests before the pedophilia flap arose - "after careful consideration."

Finally, about a half dozen Breitbart employees told Marlow, the editor, they would quit in protest if Yiannopoulos wasn't fired or disciplined, according to people familiar with the discussions who weren't authorized to comment publicly. Breitbart hasn't made any public comments since the issue arose.

Yiannopoulos, meanwhile, defended himself on Facebook on Sunday and Monday as the tide of controversy rose.

"I do not support pedophilia. Period," he wrote. "It is a vile and disgusting crime, perhaps the very worst. There are selectively edited videos doing the rounds, as part of a coordinated effort to discredit me from establishment Republicans, that suggest I am soft on the subject."

In an update Monday, he wrote, "I'm partly to blame. 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. People deal with things from their past in different ways."

He added: "I am certainly guilty of imprecise language, which I regret."

Yiannopoulos's self-named "Dangerous Faggot" speaking tour has sparked protests on college campuses for the past year, including one earlier this month at UC Berkeley that turned violent. In reaction, Trump threatened on Twitter to cut off federal funds to the school if it "does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view."</s>Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos has resigned amid a social media backlash over comments he made that appeared to condone pedophilia.

In a news conference Tuesday, Yiannopoulos said his resignation was effective immediately and praised the website as "a significant factor in my success."

He also explained his views on sex with minors, insisting that he does not condone statutory rape. "I do not believe any change in the legal age of consent is justifiable or desirable," he said. "I said some things on those Internet live streams that were simply wrong."

He also said he had been sexually abused as a child.

Yiannopoulos' resignation comes one day after he lost both a prominent speaking gig at a conservative meeting and a book deal.

As The Two Way reported:



"First, Monday afternoon the American Conservative Union rescinded its invitation to the right-wing provocateur — noted for his political posts on the Internet — to speak at its annual Conservative Political Action Conference this upcoming weekend. Then, a few hours later, Simon & Schuster announced that it was canceling the publication of Yiannopoulos' upcoming book, Dangerous. "These actions come in the wake of a social media backlash against Yiannopoulos after the conservative news outlet The Reagan Battalion tweeted videos on Sunday in which Yiannopoulos appears to condone statutory rape and sexual relationships between boys and men."



Earlier this month, a Yiannopoulos speaking engagement at the University of California, Berkeley, was canceled after students protests turned violent.</s>NEW YORK — Polarizing right-wing writer Milo Yiannopoulos resigned as an editor at Breitbart News on Tuesday and apologized for comments he had made about sexual relationships between boys and men.

Yiannopoulos, speaking to reporters, said that two men, including a priest, had touched him inappropriately when he was between the ages of 13 and 16.

“My experiences as a victim led me to believe I could say anything I wanted to on this subject, no matter how outrageous,” he said. “But I understand that my usual blend of British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humour might have come across as flippancy, a lack of care for other victims or, worse, advocacy. I am horrified by that impression.”

He said he was resigning from Breitbart, which helped make him a star, because it would be “wrong to allow my poor choice of words to detract from my colleagues’ important reporting.”

The apology followed days of criticism from fellow conservatives after the release of video clips in which Yiannopoulos appeared to defend sexual relationships between men and boys as young as 13.

In one of them, Yiannopoulos, who is gay, said relationships between boys and men could “help those young boys discover who they are and give them security and safety and provide them with love and a reliable sort of rock, where they can’t speak to their parents.”

On Monday, he was disinvited from the Conservative Political Action Conference after video of his remarks was promoted through social media.

Publisher Simon & Schuster announced it would cancel the publication of his upcoming book, “Dangerous.”

Yiannopoulos said the book had already received interest from other publishers and would still come out this year. He pledged to donate 10% of the proceeds to child sex abuse charities.

Yiannopoulos, who was born in Greece and raised in Britain, has long been known for provocative comments about women and Muslims and made his support for Republican Donald Trump clear in the last presidential election cycle. He was the technology editor at Breitbart News, whose former executive chairman, Steve Bannon, is now a senior adviser to Trump, who became president last month.

Before this controversy, Yiannopoulos was perhaps best known for getting banned from Twitter for helping to lead an online harassment campaign against comedian and “Ghostbusters” actress Leslie Jones.

Early in February, he was scheduled to give a talk at the University of California, Berkeley, but the speech was cancelled after violent protests.

Yiannopoulos has appeared, until now, to revel in those controversies and has portrayed himself as a champion of free speech. Tuesday’s apology, he said, was the first he’d ever made.

Still, the video clips, he insisted, had been edited to remove important context. He characterized media reporting on the tapes as unfair and inaccurate.

“Nonetheless,” he added, “I do say some things on the tapes that I do not mean and which do not reflect my views.”

He said he “would like to restate my disgust at adults who sexually abuse minors.”</s>ABCNews.com(NEW YORK) — Controversial Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos will not be the keynote speaker at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the group that organizes the event said Monday.

Matt Schlapp, chair of the American Conservative Union, the group that organizes the event, said in a statement that the decision was “due to the revelation of an offensive video in the past 24 hours condoning pedophilia.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.</s>Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos has resigned amid a social media backlash over comments he made that appeared to condone pedophilia.

In a news conference Tuesday, Yiannopoulos said his resignation was effective immediately and praised the website as "a significant factor in my success."

He also explained his views on sex with minors, insisting that he does not condone statutory rape.

"I do not believe any change in the legal age of consent is justifiable or desirable," Yiannopoulos said. He was referring to comments in live-streamed interviews more than a year ago in which he said, "We get hung up on this kind of child abuse stuff," and referenced, "this arbitrary and oppressive idea of consent."

"I said some things on those Internet live streams that were simply wrong," he said Tuesday.

He also said that he had been sexually abused as a child.

Yiannopoulos' resignation comes one day after he lost both a prominent speaking gig at a conservative meeting and a book deal.

As The Two Way reported:



"First, Monday afternoon the American Conservative Union rescinded its invitation to the right-wing provocateur — noted for his political posts on the Internet — to speak at its annual Conservative Political Action Conference this upcoming weekend. Then, a few hours later, Simon & Schuster announced that it was canceling the publication of Yiannopoulos' upcoming book, Dangerous. "These actions come in the wake of a social media backlash against Yiannopoulos after the conservative news outlet The Reagan Battalion tweeted videos on Sunday in which Yiannopoulos appears to condone statutory rape and sexual relationships between boys and men."



Yiannopoulos had tried to clarify his comments Monday on Facebook, defending his remarks and referencing his own sexual history while also blaming his own "sloppy phrasing" and "deceptive" video editing.

He said Tuesday that other publishers had expressed interest in his book, and that he expected it to be published this year. He also said he was founding an "independently funded media venture" and would be going on a "live tour in the coming weeks," including appearances on college campuses.

Earlier this month, a Yiannopoulos speaking engagement at the University of California, Berkeley was canceled after students protests turned violent.</s>Milo Yiannopoulos , an editor at the right-wing Breitbart News, has resigned from his post amid controversy over controversial comments he made about pedophilia.

Yiannopoulos issued a statement on his resignation Tuesday, thanking the company for allowing him to “carry conservative and libertarian ideas to communities that would otherwise never have heard them.”

The announcement comes after Simon & Schuster canceled his book deal after remarks he made defending relationships between boys and older men surfaced online and did not sit well with the public. The comments also cost him his invitation to speak at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference

“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,” Yiannopoulos said in a statement. “This decision is mine alone. When your friends have done right by you, you do right by them. For me, now, that means stepping aside so my colleagues at Breitbart can get back to the great work they do.”</s>Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos has resigned amid a social media backlash over comments he made that appeared to condone pedophilia.

In a news conference Tuesday, Yiannopoulos said his resignation was effective immediately and praised the website as "a significant factor in my success."

He also explained his views on sex with minors, insisting that he does not condone statutory rape.

"I do not believe any change in the legal age of consent is justifiable or desirable," Yiannopoulos said. He was referring to comments in live-streamed interviews more than a year ago in which he said, "We get hung up on this kind of child abuse stuff," and referenced, "this arbitrary and oppressive idea of consent."

"I said some things on those Internet live streams that were simply wrong," he said Tuesday.

He also said that he had been sexually abused as a child.

Yiannopoulos' resignation comes one day after he lost both a prominent speaking gig at a conservative meeting and a book deal.

As The Two Way reported:



"First, Monday afternoon the American Conservative Union rescinded its invitation to the right-wing provocateur — noted for his political posts on the Internet — to speak at its annual Conservative Political Action Conference this upcoming weekend. Then, a few hours later, Simon & Schuster announced that it was canceling the publication of Yiannopoulos' upcoming book, Dangerous. "These actions come in the wake of a social media backlash against Yiannopoulos after the conservative news outlet The Reagan Battalion tweeted videos on Sunday in which Yiannopoulos appears to condone statutory rape and sexual relationships between boys and men."



Yiannopoulos had tried to clarify his comments Monday on Facebook, defending his remarks and referencing his own sexual history while also blaming his own "sloppy phrasing" and "deceptive" video editing.

He said Tuesday that other publishers had expressed interest in his book, and that he expected it to be published this year. He also said he was founding an "independently funded media venture," and would be going on a "live tour in the coming weeks," including appearances on college campuses.

Earlier this month, a Yiannopoulos speaking engagement at the University of California, Berkeley, was canceled after students protests turned violent.</s>Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos has resigned amid a social media backlash over comments he made that appeared to condone pedophilia.

In a news conference Tuesday, Yiannopoulos said his resignation was effective immediately and praised the website as "a significant factor in my success."

He also explained his views on sex with minors, insisting that he does not condone statutory rape.

"I do not believe any change in the legal age of consent is justifiable or desirable," Yiannopoulos said. He was referring to comments in live-streamed interviews more than a year ago in which he said, "We get hung up on this kind of child abuse stuff," and referenced, "this arbitrary and oppressive idea of consent."

"I said some things on those Internet live streams that were simply wrong," he said Tuesday.

He also said that he had been sexually abused as a child.

Yiannopoulos' resignation comes one day after he lost both a prominent speaking gig at a conservative meeting and a book deal.

As The Two Way reported:



"First, Monday afternoon the American Conservative Union rescinded its invitation to the right-wing provocateur — noted for his political posts on the Internet — to speak at its annual Conservative Political Action Conference this upcoming weekend. Then, a few hours later, Simon & Schuster announced that it was canceling the publication of Yiannopoulos' upcoming book, Dangerous. "These actions come in the wake of a social media backlash against Yiannopoulos after the conservative news outlet The Reagan Battalion tweeted videos on Sunday in which Yiannopoulos appears to condone statutory rape and sexual relationships between boys and men."



Yiannopoulos had tried to clarify his comments Monday on Facebook, defending his remarks and referencing his own sexual history while also blaming his own "sloppy phrasing" and "deceptive" video editing.

He said Tuesday that other publishers had expressed interest in his book, and that he expected it to be published this year. He also said he was founding an "independently funded media venture" and would be going on a "live tour in the coming weeks," including appearances on college campuses.

Earlier this month, a Yiannopoulos speaking engagement at the University of California, Berkeley was canceled after students protests turned violent.</s>Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos has resigned amid a social media backlash over comments he made that appeared to condone pedophilia.

In a news conference Tuesday, Yiannopoulos said his resignation was effective immediately and praised the website as "a significant factor in my success."

He also explained his views on sex with minors, insisting that he does not condone statutory rape.

"I do not believe any change in the legal age of consent is justifiable or desirable," Yiannopoulos said. He was referring to comments in live-streamed interviews more than a year ago in which he said, "We get hung up on this kind of child abuse stuff," and referenced, "this arbitrary and oppressive idea of consent."

"I said some things on those Internet live streams that were simply wrong," he said Tuesday.

He also said that he had been sexually abused as a child.

Yiannopoulos' resignation comes one day after he lost both a prominent speaking gig at a conservative meeting and a book deal.

As The Two Way reported:



"First, Monday afternoon the American Conservative Union rescinded its invitation to the right-wing provocateur — noted for his political posts on the Internet — to speak at its annual Conservative Political Action Conference this upcoming weekend. Then, a few hours later, Simon & Schuster announced that it was canceling the publication of Yiannopoulos' upcoming book, Dangerous. "These actions come in the wake of a social media backlash against Yiannopoulos after the conservative news outlet The Reagan Battalion tweeted videos on Sunday in which Yiannopoulos appears to condone statutory rape and sexual relationships between boys and men."



Yiannopoulos had tried to clarify his comments Monday on Facebook, defending his remarks and referencing his own sexual history while also blaming his own "sloppy phrasing" and "deceptive" video editing.

He said Tuesday that other publishers had expressed interest in his book, and that he expected it to be published this year. He also said he was founding an "independently funded media venture," and would be going on a "live tour in the coming weeks," including appearances on college campuses.

Earlier this month, a Yiannopoulos speaking engagement at the University of California, Berkeley, was canceled after students protests turned violent.</s>Milo Yiannopoulos speaks to 'Nightline' reporter Terry Moran in an interview published on Sept. 2, 2016. (ABC News)

Milo Yiannopoulos on Tuesday announced his resignation from Breitbart News, according to New York Times reporter Michael M. Grynbaum.

Yiannopoulos, who served as the senior editor of Breitbart’s technology section, frequently launched bigoted attacks against women, overweight people, non-Christians, transgender individuals and ethnic minorities during his “Dangerous Faggot” college tours. Recently, a conservative blog published a 2016 video in which the right-wing provocateur spoke out against laws against statutory rape.

Yiannopoulos argued some 13-year-old boys are old enough to consent to sexual relationships with adults. He added that adults who have sex with underage teenagers are not pedophiles.

“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.”

The Conservative Political Action Conference rescinded its invitation to Yiannopoulos and Simon & Schuster canceled the publication of his book Dangerous after the recording was highlighted by various news outlets.

Yiannopoulos said in a Facebook post that he was disgusted by sexual abuse and pedophilia.

“I would like to restate my utter disgust at adults who sexually abuse minors. I am horrified by pedophilia and I have devoted large portions of my career as a journalist to exposing child abusers. I’ve outed three of them, in fact — three more than most of my critics. And I’ve repeatedly expressed disgust at pedophilia in my feature and opinion writing. My professional record is very clear,” Yiannopoulos wrote.

“But I do understand that these videos, even though some of them are edited deceptively, paint a different picture.”

I’m partly to blame. 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. People deal with things from their past in different ways,” Yiannopoulos said.

Employees at Breitbart News were reportedly ready to leave the publication if Yiannopoulos wasn’t ousted from his position.
British journalist Milo Yiannopoulos resigns from his post as technology editor at Breitbart news, after controversy around his statements regarding underage sex.