Self proclaimed internet troll Milo Yiannopoulos says he is being unfairly targeted by the media and is ready to launch legal proceedings against publications who published comments he made in which he appeared to be calling for journalists to be killed.
Yiannopoulos, a former employee of right-wing website Brietbart, is a hero to the alt-right movement and white supremacist movements, and often tries to provoke people with brash comments.
On his website he describes his “act” as “equal parts journalism, provocation, vaudeville and mischief for the sake of mischief.”
Earlier this week it was revealed that Yiannopoulos had responded to several media inquiries suggesting that journalists should be killed.
When the New York Observer asked Yiannopoulos for comment on a story that featured him he allegedly sent them a text message saying ““I can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight.” The same message was also sent to a reporter at The Daily Beast.
Yiannpoulos posted a statement to his social media accounts saying the messages were private messages to “taunt” the journalists and he was not serious. He said the call for journalists to be killed was his standard response to media inquiries.
On Thursday a gunman killed five people of the newsroom of Maryland newspaper Capital Gazette. While police have not named the man they took into custody, it has widely been reported that he is Jarrod Ramos, a 38 year old man who had previously unsuccessfully sued the newspaper for defamation.
Yiannopoulos said journalists who were releasing his threats were taking advantage of the deaths of the people at the newspaper and unfairly linking his comments to the tragedy.
“The bodies are barely cold and left-wing journalists are already exploiting these deaths to score political points against me. It’s disgusting. I regret nothing I said, though of course like any normal person I am saddened to hear of needless death.” Yiannopoulos said in his post.
The author and public speaker said news outlets that published his remarks were “drumming up fake hysteria”.
Yiannopoulos has announced he will be taking legal action against the New York Observer arguing that it has defamed him by attempting to link his comments to the shooting in Maryland.
“The reckless, malicious and defamatory actions of the New York Observer this week led directly to measurable financial harm and harm to my reputation when journalists, based on the ludicrous claim in the Observer that I was inciting violence against journalists, sought to connect this week’s shooting of five journalists with ‘incitement’ by me,” Yiannopoulos told online website The Schpiel.
Yiannopoulos said he would be commencing legal proceedings in the United Kingdom, his primary place of residence.
“I am a British citizen with a primary residence in the UK and I am suing in British court as well,” the author said. “Trust me, English libel law’s a bitch!”
Speaking to New York radio station 77WABC Yiannopoulos said when he made the comments he was being “desperately silly” and the journalists should have realised that he was not serious and the comments were not intended to be for publication.
Yiannopoulos told the radio station he did not want an apology from the New York Observer or The Daily Beast.
“No, I want money. I’m going to sue to you-know-what out of them.” he responded. “What the New York Observer did is clearly both malicious and defamatory, and I’ll take that up with them in court.”
OIP Staff
