Milo Yiannopoulos may be barred from Twitter, but he’s still causing of plenty of controversy on the platform.
Last week, a number of Twitter users voiced outrage at the news that the infamous troll and editor of far-right news site Breitbart News was signing a $250,000 book deal with Threshold Editions, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
Much of the outrage had to do with Yiannopoulos reportedly leading an “online campaign of harassment,” to quote one user, against Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones this summer.
Don't soft-pedal things: he led an online campaign of harassment against Leslie Jones. No "some have been accused" about it.
— Kevin Wayne Williams (@KevinWayneW) December 29, 2016
Yiannopoulos, who under the handle @Nero often made racist and sexist remarks, was promptly barred from Twitter, with the social network admitting that it has “not done enough to curb this type of behavior.”
While the online platform is publicly struggling with the question of how to limit harassment without infringing on users’ freedom of speech, Yiannopoulos’ newest outlet took a different tack.
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Responding to claims that it’s condoning hate speech, Simon & Shuster wrote (on Twitter, no less), that while the publishing house is “cognizant that many may disagree vehemently” with the books it publishes, “the opinions expressed therein belong to [their] authors, and do not reflect either a corporate viewpoint of the views of [their] employees.”
Statement regarding recent acquisition by @threshold_books, another division of @simonschuster pic.twitter.com/HTEs1fnsjB
— Simon & Schuster (@SimonBooks) December 30, 2016
Jones was among those who believe that the publisher’s statement fell short. “[You] still help them spread their hate to even more people,” she tweeted on Monday.
yea but you still help them spread their hate to even more people.
— Leslie Jones 🦋 (@Lesdoggg) January 2, 2017
Spreading his ideas does appear to be the alt-right editor’s main goal. “I’m more powerful, more influential and more fabulous than ever before,” Yiannopoulos told The Hollywood Reporter last week. “This book is the moment Milo goes mainstream.”