Milo Yiannopoulos Dropped Over Paedophilia Comments
Ultra-conservative writer Milo Yiannopoulos will no longer speak at a US conservative conference and his book deal has been cancelled after videos surfaced in which he appeared to condone paedophilia.
The footage showed him discussing the merits of gay relationships between adults and boys as young as 13. On Facebook, Mr Yiannopoulos denied ever endorsing paedophilia. He said one video had been edited to give a misleading impression.
However, the American Conservative Union, which runs the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) where President Trump is due to speak on Friday, said the apology was not
enough.
"We urge him to immediately further address these disturbing comments," Matt Schlapp said in a statement.
Book publisher Simon & Schuster said it had cancelled the publication of Mr Yiannopoulos's book Dangerous, which was due out in June, after "careful consideration".
In the footage, Mr Yiannopoulos - a passionate supporter of Donald Trump and an editor at right-wing website Breitbart - seems to suggest the determining factor for paedophilia is whether the younger partner has gone through puberty.
However at another point in the video he says the US age of consent, which is 16 to 18 years old
depending on location, is "about right".
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