Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos denied defending pedophilia after CNN’s Jake Tapper and others called him out Sunday for recorded remarks in which he said some relationships between adults and 13-year-olds are consensual. He also joked that being molested had made him good at oral sex.
Yiannopoulos, a conservative, self-professed troll, said he was taken out of context and did not support pedophilia — but he quickly found that internet attacks aren’t as fun when you’re the one being attacked.
Yiannopoulos’ comments emerged two days after he accused transgender women of wanting to molest children during a “Real Time With Bill Maher” appearance. The remarks drew added fury because he was recently named a speaker at the influential Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) and given a book deal with Simon & Schuster. After UC Berkeley canceled a speech by Yiannopoulos a few weeks ago, President Trump threatened to cut its federal funding.
His comments about 13-year-olds quickly ricocheted around Twitter, which banned him last year for trolling “Ghostbusters” star Leslie Jones. In an interview with the Drunken Peasants podcast, he said that in some cases, 13-year-olds who have sex with people in their twenties are the real predators.
“We’re talking about 13/25, 13/28, these things do happen perfectly consensually. Often it’s the women who suffer, by the way, because what normally happens in schools, very often, is that the boy is the predator in that situation – the boy is like, ‘let’s see if I can f— the gym teacher’ or ‘let’s see if I can f— the hot math teacher,’” he said.
Here’s the video:
🚨 Breaking: We obtained the #CPAC2017 Milo Yiannopoulos introductory video.
This is a must watch!
Well done @mschlapp. pic.twitter.com/2nA0H9woUX
— Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) February 19, 2017
Yiannopoulos, who is gay, also stated on the podcast: “In the homosexual world, particularly, some of those relationships between younger boys and older men, the sort of ‘coming of age’ relationships, those older men help those young boys to discover who they are and give them security and safety and provide them with love and a reliable sort of a rock.”
When one of his interviewers replies, “It sounds like Catholic priest molestation to me,” Yiannopoulos says that being molested by a priest made him good at oral sex.
“You know what? I’m grateful for Father Michael. I wouldn’t give nearly such good head if it wasn’t for him,” he says.
He also states: “pedophilia is not an attraction to someone 13 years old who is sexually mature,” but rather involves prepubescent children.
He adds, “I don’t mind admitting” that he advocates cross-generational relationships. Here’s the video:
Here is the uncut 5 minute video of Milo Yiannopoulos advocating for Pederasty involving "13 Year old" and "older men." HIS WORDS.@Mschlapp pic.twitter.com/mAgmfpuyvu
— Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) February 20, 2017
Elsewhere, however, he said age of consent laws were “probably” set at the right age. Here’s the video:
https://twitter.com/TheSwogBlog/status/833547728907096065
Yiannopoulos explained himself in a lengthy Facebook post that began, “A note for idiots (UPDATED): I do not support pedophilia. Period. It is a vile and disgusting crime, perhaps the very worst.”
He went on to explain that he has personally outed pedophiles, and is “disgusted by the abuse of children.” He did not explicitly deny defending relationships between adults and 13-year-olds, but did clarify:
“I did say that there are relationships between younger men and older men that can help a young gay man escape from a lack of support or understanding at home. That’s perfectly true and every gay man knows it. But I was not talking about anything illegal and I was not referring to pre-pubescent boys.”
He added: “I shouldn’t have used the word ‘boy’ when I talked about those relationships between older men and younger gay men. (I was talking about my own relationship when I was 17 with a man who was 29. The age of consent in the UK is 16.) That was a mistake. Gay men often use the word ‘boy’ when they refer to consenting adults. I understand that heterosexual people might not know that, so it was a sloppy choice of words that I regret.”
He also said the videos were taken out of context, but acknowledged: “I *did* joke about giving better head as a result of clerical sexual abuse committed against me when I was a teen.”
He added: “If I choose to deal in an edgy way on an internet livestream with a crime I was the victim of that’s my prerogative. It’s no different to gallows humor from AIDS sufferers.”
Tapper called out Yiannopoulos’ comments and questioned why he would be speaking at CPAC in a series of tweets. The CNN host said a conservative friend who had been molested as a child was “horrified” by Yiannopoulos’ recorded statements.
And many others, disgusted by Yiannopoulos’ past remarks about women and Jews, among others, delighted in seeing him publicly flayed over his comments about sex with teens.
Here are some of the tweets:
Friend of mine, conservative, could not be more distraught by this Milo tape. Was molested as a child. Horrified.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 20, 2017
This guy is speaking at CPAC?????? https://t.co/VzMkRdLoTZ
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 20, 2017
My friend, a survivor of sex trafficking: "Milo straight up defended abusing 13 yr old boys…Please don't let that be normalized"
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 20, 2017
Preying on children is the definition of evil. Justifying it in any way is sick and disturbing.
Has everyone lost their minds?
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) February 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/morninggloria/status/833554869428617216
https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/833434714358820864
When a gay GOP group presented at CPAC a few years ago, @Heritage backed out as sponsor. So far, they have no problem with Milo. Priorities.
— Radley Balko (@radleybalko) February 20, 2017