LOS ANGELES (AP) – Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos was trying to clarify past comments on relationships between boys and older men after a conservative site posted a collection of edited video clips that set social media abuzz.
After the polarizing Breitbart News editor was invited this weekend to speak at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference sparked a backlash, the Reagan Battalion tweeted video clips Feb. 19 in which Yiannopoulos discusses Jews, sexual consent, statutory rape, child abuse and homosexuality.
Yiannopoulos wrote on Facebook blaming deceptive editing and his own “sloppy phrasing” for any indication he supported pedophilia.
The British author says he spoke of his own relationship when he was 17 with a man who was 29. The age of consent in the U.K. is 16.
It’s unclear who edited the videos.
Here is the uncut 5 minute video of Milo Yiannopoulos advocating for Pederasty involving “13 Year old” and “older men.” HIS WORDS.@Mschlapp pic.twitter.com/mAgmfpuyvu
— The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) February 20, 2017
American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp announced Feb. 20 that Yiannopoulos’ invitation to speak at CPAC has been rescinded.
“@ACUConservative has decided to rescind the invitation of Milo Yiannopoulos to speak at #CPAC2017.” pic.twitter.com/sVWGnPCW7C
— Matt Schlapp (@mschlapp) February 20, 2017
Yiannopoulos made news last week when he went head-to-head with guests on the HBO series “Real Time with Bill Maher” Feb. 17. Yiannopoulos participated in a relatively tame exchange with host Maher during the beginning of the show but, during an online-only “Overtime” segment of the show, two of Maher’s three panelists hurled expletives at the Breitbart News senior editor.
Yiannopoulos writes for Breitbart News, considered by many a platform for the so-called “alt-right” movement, an offshoot of conservatism that mixes racism, white nationalism and populism.
The Reagan Battalion is a blog that describes itself as “news, information, commentary, from a conservative perspective.”
