Milo Resigns from Breitbart, Tells Story of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Debra Heine | 3:38 PM on February 21, 2017

Milo Yiannopoulos speaks during a news conference, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017, in New York. Yiannopoulos has resigned as editor of Breitbart Tech after coming under fire from other conservatives over comments on sexual relationships between boys and older men. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Milo Yiannopoulos has resigned as an editor of Breitbart amid outrage surrounding flippant remarks he made that appeared to be pro-pedophilia.

During talk show appearances last year, Yiannopoulos made comments that seemed to condone his experience of being molested by a priest as a teenager and younger “boys” having sex with older men. He has since apologized for his jokes about clerical abuse and for using imprecise language, explaining that in gay circles young men are often referred to as “boys.” His critics, however, maintain that he is disturbingly comfortable with older men having sexual relations with teenage boys.

Yiannopoulos announced that he was quitting Breitbart during a news conference in Manhattan where he discussed his comments and his own sexual abuse as a teenager.

“Breitbart News has stood by me when others caved,” he said. “They have allowed me to carry conservative and libertarian ideas to communities that otherwise never have heard them.”

“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,” he said.

He said that his book “Dangerous” “has received interest” from other publishing houses after being dropped by Simon and Schuster.

“The book will come out this year, as planned — with perhaps an additional chapter,” he said, adding, “I’ll be donating ten percent of my royalties to child sex abuse charities.”

Yiannopoulos reiterated his regret for the things he said in the interviews, saying, “I don’t think I’ve been as sorry about anything in my whole life.”

He maintained that some of the comments were “selectively edited” to misrepresent his comments.

“Let’s be clear about what’s happening, here,” he said. “This is a cynical media witch-hunt from people who do not care about children. They care about destroying me and my career and by extension, my allies. They know that although I have made some outrageous statements, I’ve never actually done anything wrong.”

Yiannopoulos went on to announce his plans for the future, which include a new media venture of his own that he will be launching in a couple of weeks and new campus tour dates.