Tuesday marked the end of a brief yet controversial era for Breitbart News as tech editor and conservative rabble-rouser milo yiannopoulis resigned amid a firestorm of negative publicity surrounding comments he made about pedophilia.
Yiannopoulis prefaced his address by thanking Breitbart News, and then stated: “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.”
Milo's roller coaster ride
It has been a roller coaster year for Yiannopoulis thus far.
After appearing as a guest on HBO's 'Real Time with Bill Maher' last Friday, the conservative icon was deluged with insults, homophobic slurs and threats on social media by liberal viewers upset about Yiannopoulis' "chummy" rapport with the left-wing television personality. Shortly after his appearance, a mysterious Twitter account, @ReaganBattalion, began uploading videos in which Yiannopoulis talks flippantly about sexual relationships between young boys and older men.
As a result of the Twitter videos, publisher Simon & Schuster scrapped his $250,000 book deal and CPAC withdrew its invitation to have Yiannopoulis speak at its prestigious conservative gathering. The former Breitbart editor described this turn of events as a politically motivated witch hunt.
Earlier this year, a riot broke out at UC Berkeley after he showed up to speak, resulting in multiple injuries and significant property damage. Yiannopoulis had to be evacuated from the scene by campus police.
Milo goes out with a parting shot to the media
The conservative writer did go out with a bang rather than a whimper, however.
Prior to announcing his resignation, he railed against the media and claimed that the Twitter videos had been deceptively edited in order to make it appear as though he supported pedophilia.
"They have reported things about me which they know aren't true and f--- you for that," he said to reporters.
Yiannopolis, who is a sexual abuse survivor himself, pointed out that during his journalistic career he had exposed three pedophiles to the public, adding that it was "three more than most of my critics."
On Tuesday, Yiannopoulis opened his New York press conference by reading a prepared statement detailing the sexual abuse he endured as a child and reiterating his stance against pedophilia.
