That’s $250 k gone
Now Yiannopoulos has lost his book deal.
Publisher Simon & Schuster announced Monday it cancelled Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos’s book deal, the latest development in the growing backlash over resurfaced videos of the far-right provocateur criticizing age-of-consent laws.
A statement from the publishing house offered little explanation: “After careful consideration, Simon & Schuster and its Threshold Editions imprint have cancelled publication of ‘Dangerous’ by Milo Yiannopoulos.”
After careful consideration of what, one wonders. Not his notorious extended career as a Twitter bully, certainly, because that’s how he became pseudo-famous, and that’s why Simon and Schuster wanted his “book” in the first place. Not his provocations since then, for the same reason. Not the fact that he’s obviously a nasty shit. So, what, then?
I suppose the fact that the water got too hot once even CPAC disavowed him. Yesterday they thought he was worth a quarter of a million bucks, and today they decided he’s not, because oh gee gosh look, he’s not a nice guy. Who knew?!
Simon & Schuster faced a flurry of criticism from the literary worldlate last year when word got out that the publishing house paid Yiannopoulos a $250,000 advance for a forthcoming book.
Known for inflammatory comments about women and Muslims, Yiannopoulos is an openly gay and self-described “free-speech fundamentalist” who has declared that “feminism is cancer” and was blocked on Twitter after sending tweets targeting “Saturday Night Live” cast member Leslie Jones, who is black.
“Free speech fundamentalist” my ass. He’s a professional troll, and nothing else. I blame the BBC for inviting him to talk on its news shows on the basis of nothing other than his history of trolling.
Now even Breitbart is edging away…which is pretty ridiculous, really.
By late Monday afternoon, there were ongoing discussions at Breitbart about Yiannopoulos’s future at the company, according to two people familiar with the organization who were not authorized to speak. Inside the newsroom, several staffers made clear to senior leadership that they felt uncomfortable and may decide to leave if he stays, the people said.
A bit late for that, I think.
In a Facebook update Monday, Yiannopoulos conceded responsibility for the way some have interpreted his comments.
“I’m partly to blame,” he wrote. “My own experiences as a victim led me to believe I could say anything I wanted to on this subject, no matter how outrageous. But I understand that my usual blend of British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humor might have come across as flippancy, a lack of care for other victims or, worse, ‘advocacy.’ I deeply regret that. People deal with things from their past in different ways.”
Ha. He deeply regrets nothing. He likes drawing emotional blood. All he regrets is misjudging what his buddies would put up with.
British sarcasm? Oh my sainted aunt, you’re so right, Milo, shitty vindictiveness totally is British sarcasm in a nutshell.5
Sarah Nyberg (@srhbutts) has lots to say about Yiannopoulos, as you might expect.
latsot, I never heard of Sarah Nyberg before today, but…
https://medium.com/@srhbuttstruth/5-reasons-you-shouldn-t-stand-with-sarah-nyberg-797d84b07ce#.7c3xyra8a
A $250K advance, huh?
It continues to impress me how much money there can be in being an incredibly shitty human being.
Lady M:
But… what?
To clarify, Lady M:
I’m not (intentionally) being an arsehole. I’m genuinely asking what you mean by “but…”
I’m aware of the allegations against Sarah Nyberg. The vast majority of the links to things she’s accused of come from unreliable sources and tumble down rabbit holes. That said, there’s no particular reason to suspect that she didn’t say some or all of the things she’s accused of saying other than examination of the sources. Those things would be troubling even if – as Nyberg seems to say – they happened within a fantasy setting.
But they wouldn’t invalidate her points and fantasies, however worrying, aeren’t automatically abuse. I don’t know whether MY did the things SN accused him of. I don’t know whether his or other accusations against SN are true or relevant. I don’t even think that MY’s recent comments revealed him as a paedophile so much as they revealed him as a shitty, self-absorbed sort-of-person.
My point was that one would expect SN to have much to say about MY given their history.
I’m not going to bullshit my way out of this, though. If there’s substantial evidence that SN has done harm – including inciting or abetting others to do harm – then I’ll certainly admit I’m wrong.
If you’re casting aspersions on my understanding of the various (but few) records of whatever happened then I know enough about you to listen.
Schadenfreude.
He should go cry to his “Daddy” since they’re being unfair like UC Berkeley….
The rise of Milo, a child of the internet & trolling age. The ClickLord. The Digital Shock Jock. The kid who confounds his elders by knowing how to work The Computer & The Cell Phone. – article here on how a young smart arse became famous.
I heard him on the BBC once – on the Moral Maze. Awful wanker, he sounded. If you need a go to Free Speech fellow, there are other slightly less objectionable lightweights like (gulp) Brendan O’Neill (who’s an arse, but not a frivolous one)>
https://reaction.life/rise-milo-yiannopoulos-telegraph-years-partly-blame/
O for pete’s sake. It’s not like he grabbed a boy’s pussy or anything.
$250k gone from who — Milo or Simon & Schuster?
I thought he’d already been paid the advance, and that S&S’s decision not to publish basically means they have to eat that loss. In which case, Milo loses the publicity of the book being published, and the opportunity to earn additional royalties if it more than earns back the advance, but in many ways it’s the best of both worlds for him: he gets the cash and doesn’t have to deliver the book. (Which, for a guy who was farming out his Breitbart column to unpaid interns, has to be a relief.)
Or did S&S have some contractual right to cancel and get the advance back (or just not pay it if it hadn’t already been due)?
Apologies if the answer is in the linked article — I’ve reached my limit of free WaPo articles this month. I really ought to subscribe, if only to reward the good reporting they’ve done on the Trump beat.
I can’t remember who said this, but someone recently pointed out that the sudden disowning of Milo shows that all that talk about free speech and hearing alternate views was bullshit all along. They used to like what Milo was saying, and now they don’t.
#11: Looks to me the loss is on S&S. From Wapo
Maybe that will encourage S&S to think twice before they see dollar signs in misogyny. You see, even if you’re fine with misogyny, it often comes packaged with some less “acceptable” hatreds.