Simon & Schuster Cancels Publication of Milo Yiannopoulos Book

By Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg 

CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster publishing arm said Monday it has canceled the upcoming publication of a book by Milo Yiannopoulos, after a video surfaced in which the controversial conservative journalist appeared to condone sex between men and young boys.

A spokesman for Simon & Schuster declined to provide any additional comment or to discuss whether the publishing house would seek to get back its advance, which was previously estimated in the range of $250,000.

The book, titled "Dangerous," was expected to publish this June through Simon & Schuster's Threshold Editions imprint.

Over the weekend, a video emerged online in which Mr. Yiannopoulos said, among other things, that he didn't consider it pedophilia if an adult has a sexual attraction to a 13-year-old who is "sexually mature."

On Monday, the American Conservative Union rescinded an invitation to Mr. Yiannopoulos to speak at its upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference, citing "an offensive video in the past 24 hours condoning pedophilia," according to a statement on Twitter by ACU chairman Matt Schlapp.

Efforts to reach Mr. Yiannopoulos, an editor and writer at Breitbart News, were unsuccessful. However, in a posting on Facebook he described himself as a child-abuse victim who is "horrified by pedophilia" and said his "usual blend of British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humor might have come across as flippancy."

After writing he doesn't believe that "sex with 13-year-olds is okay," he wrote, "Anyone who suggests I turn a blind eye to illegal activity or to the abuse of minors is unequivocally wrong. I am implacably opposed to the normalization of pedophilia and I will continue to report and speak accordingly."

Mr. Yiannopoulos has made controversial remarks on topics including Islam and women. He was banned by Twitter after a series of tweets about actress Leslie Jones that the social-media site determined were abusive.

In early February, violent protests broke out at the University of California, Berkeley ahead of a scheduled appearance by Mr. Yiannopoulos, leading to the event's cancellation. In the past, he has had defenders on the right on free-speech grounds.

When Simon & Schuster signed Mr. Yiannopoulos to a book contract late last year, critics said the publishing house was helping to spread hatred.

The signing became so contested that Carolyn Reidy, Simon & Schuster's chief executive, sent a letter dated Jan. 23 to authors and shared with staffers in which she wrote that the publishing house does "not support or condone, nor will we publish, hate speech. Not from our authors. Not in our books. Not at our imprints. Not from our employees and not in our workplace."

Ms. Reidy wrote that the book Mr. Yiannopoulos proposed would be "a substantive examination of the issues of political correctness and free speech, issues that are already much-discussed and argued and fought over in both mainstream and alternative media and on campuses and in schools across the country."

Despite the controversy surrounding "Dangerous," in anticipation of the book's release it ranked No. 83 on Amazon's best-seller list on Monday afternoon. By early evening, the book was no longer listed on Amazon.

Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 20, 2017 21:27 ET (02:27 GMT)

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