For anyone whod cherished the impossible dream that Milo Yiannopoulos would suffer for his sins, his triumphant resurrection in recent days must come as an irksome and chasteningspectacle.
It turns out that even Yiannopouloss most hateful outragesbursts of racism, misogyny, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and self-loathing homophobia, delivered with campy performance skills, preening contempt and a posh English accentare irresistible catnip to the media-political complex.
Even Bill Maherwho absorbed a raft of criticism for his kid-glove treatment of Yiannopoulos during his Feb. 17 appearance on Mahers Real Time HBO showis courting the alt-rights most notorious troll for a return engagement.
Yet a few days after Yiannopouloss lovefest with Maher five months ago, it all came crashing down. He was forced to resign in disgrace from his nominal technology editor job at Breitbart News, lost a $255,000 book deal, and was disinvited from a prominent speaking role at the Conservative Political Action Conferenceall for defending the criminal practice of pedophilia on an all but forgotten podcast.
But now, after an indecent interval, Yiannopoulos is back with a vengeance. (After agreeing toand then decliningan interview request, then offering to respond to written questions through his personal publicist, he provided no comment for this story.)
The right is now willing to embrace and celebrate anybody whos willing to back Trump, and Milos a hateful, stupid, British, pederasty-loving version of Ann Coulter, said a former Breitbart staffer who asked not to be named so as not to become a target of Milos army of Twitter trolls and Facebook trolls.
The difference is that Ann uses shock value in pursuit of substance, and for Milo, its shock value in pursuit of Milo, this staffer said.
Now Yiannopoulos is busily promoting Dangerous, a memoir-meets-manifesto that he self-published on Amazon, where it has reportedly sold 100,000 copiesin pre-publication orders after Simon & Schusters conservative Threshold Editions imprint canceled it amid the pedophilia controversy.
Yiannopoulos filed a $10 million lawsuit last Friday against the CBS-owned publisher, which called the suit "publicity driven and entirely without merit."
Meanwhile, his recently formed and mysteriously funded live entertainment company, Milo Inc., has spent lavishly on advertising, including a huge billboard in Manhattans Times Square neighborhood and on Facebook.
The Washington, D.C., Metro authorities removed the Dangerous ads from the underground stations after protests from offended commuters.
Milo Inc. also financed a garish New York book party July 6 that featured frolicking, g-stringed strippers shedding head-to-toe black burkas, yarmulke-wearing dancing midgets sporting Ben Shapiro nametags (a symbolic assault on one of Yiannopouloss more vehement conservative antagonists, a display dubbed anti-Semitic by CNN anchor Jake Tapper), lusty chants of Fuck CNN! from the millennial wingnut partygoers, and a smugly grinning guest appearance by avaricious pharma exec Martin Shkreli, currently on trial on federal charges of securities fraud.
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Milo Inc. is widely believed in conservative circles to have been bankrolledto the tune of $12 million, Yiannopoulus has claimedby the right-wing billionaire Mercer family (a major backer of Breitbart).
While he refuses to identify his financial angels, a story Thursday in Buzzfeed relies on leaked internal documents to identify computer tycoon Bob Mercer and his daughter Rebekah as Yiannopolouss sugar daddies.
Rebekah Mercer loves Milo, the story quotes a source familiar with both Yiannopoulos and the Mercers. They always stood behind him, and their support never wavered.
Notably, Yiannopoulos has also been restored to the warm embrace of the Donald Trump-loving, angry-populist Breitbart News, whose editor-in-chief, Alexander Marlow, was at pains to call his pedophilia endorsementwhen it emerged last February indefensible, upsetting, appalling, and troubling.
In recent days, Breitbart has not only featured a lengthy excerpt of Dangerousfrom a chapter titled Why Muslims Hate Mebut the website has also covered the twists and turns of Yiannapolouss glorious book tour with a celebratory diligence normally reserved for the achievements of the Trump White House.
Whats more, Marlow devoted the July 5 installment of Breitbart Daily, the radio show he hosts on SiriusXM, to a sycophantic chat with his once-shamed former employee.
Youre one of the true iconoclasts out here, Marlow gushed, humorously dubbing Yiannopoulos a fabulous supervillain.
He never left the good graces of Breitbart, said former Breitbart writer Lee Stranahan, who quit the web site in March in a bitter dispute with Marlow, and was among half a dozen employees who voiced repulsion at Yiannopouloss comments.
Several Breitbart employees had reportedly threatened to quit if Yiannopoulos remained. Like a lot of stuff associated with Milo, Stranahan said, his resignation was a publicity stunt.
Stranahan, the father of six, added: As a person whos got a lot of kids and teenagers, its not cool.
During his April 2016 sit-down with Drunken Peasants podcaster Joe Rogana video surfaced by a right-leaning group after Yiannopoulos was invited by CPACs Matt Schlapp to speak at the prestigious conclaveBreitbarts then-tech editor had praised the personal discovery value of underage sex between boys and men.
When I was 14, trust me, I was the predator, he claimed, describing his own sexual initiation by a Catholic priest. "I'm grateful for Father Michael," he added. "I wouldn't give nearly such good head if it wasn't for him."
At his Feb. 21 press conference as the scandal was exploding, Yiannopolous offered a half-hearted apology, claiming that he had been a childhood victim of sexual abuse and he was disgusted and horrified by pedophilia. But even as he tried to undo the damage, he couldnt resist adding that child molestation is simply not the worst thing that has ever happened. To go bankrupt is worse.
Marlow didnt respond to an email from the Daily Beast, but Breitbart spokesperson Chad Wilkinson said: Alex accepted Milos resignation but they remained friendsmeeting for lunch last month in Los Angeles when Marlow made his own appearance on Bill Mahers show.
Alex was critical of Milo. He said so. He was very vocal about it, Wilkinson addednotwithstanding that Marlow, in the same breath,had extravagantly praised Yiannopolouss contribution to Breitbart.Milo resigned for his own reasons. And it probably made sense for Milo to separate from the company. His brand is becoming bigger and bigger, so it worked out very well, and we wish him nothing but the best of luck.
As for Yiannopouloss sudden omnipresence on Breitbart, Milo Inc. did a very big advertising buy, Wilkinson said, declining to specify the dollar amount.Were going to take the money. Were going to take the money from pretty much anybody. And Milo continues to be newsworthy, so well cover him. Hes being interviewed all over the placeI dont think hes getting any special treatment.
Wilkinson, meanwhile, tried to dismiss a recent report by Buzzfeedbased largely on internal emails and other documentsthat Marlow had helped his disgraced former employee launch his private company and was designated to receive a $60,000 fee and the title of editorial director.
Alex is not an employee and doesnt work for him, Wilkinson said, calling a spread sheet containing Marlows prospective title and compensation Milos wish list. (Yiannapoulos once infamously referred to media reporter Joe Bernstein, the author of the Buzzfeed story, as a a typical example of a sort of thick-as-pig shit media Jew.
My understanding is there was a deal in place to promote his book when he left, said the former Breitbart staffer. They would have kept him onbut it got a little too hot.
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How Breitbart Fell Back in Love With Alt-Right Troll Milo Yiannopolous - Daily Beast