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Days ago CPAC announced that Breitbart editor and provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos would be speaking at this week’s conference. A number of outlets inaccurately reported that he’d be the keynote speaker - and the outrage was so quick you’d think we were on UC Berkeley’s campus.
Everyone from irrelevant has-beens like Glenn Beck, to irrelevant never-beens like Bill Kristol voiced their opposition.
Much to say about this. All of it with a heavy heart. https://t.co/SUTxOeKNg7
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) February 19, 2017
40 years ago at CPAC: Reagan gives speech that lays groundwork for conservatism's success.
This year: Trump serves as warmup act for Milo.— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 20, 2017
@mschlapp Sad and disappointing, Matt.
— Jonah Goldberg (@JonahNRO) February 18, 2017
@mschlapp Does "free speech" include bringing n every other speaker who stands diametrically opposed 2 true conservatism? Sad. Duplicitous
— Dr. Everett Piper (@dreverettpiper) February 20, 2017
It was amusing to see conservatives run with the “Milo is a racist, sexist, anti-Semitic alt-right personality” narrative that they learned from their liberal friends without bothering to check it.
Not long after, The Reagan Battalion began publishing footage of Milo making comments that appeared to be endorsing pedophilia. The relevant videos are below.
In the following he states that “This arbitrary and oppressive idea of consent which totally destroys, you know the understanding of many of us have the complexities and subtleties and complicated nature of many relationships.” You know people are messy and complex and actually, in the homosexual world particularly. Some of those relationships between younger boys and older men, that sort of coming of age relationships.The relationships with those with older men have helped those young boys discover who they are. And give them security and safety, provide them with love and reliable and sort of a rock. Where they can’t speak to their parents.”
After being interjected that what he’s talking about sounds a heck of a lot like pedophilia, he replied ““You’re misunderstanding what pedophilia means. Pedophilia is not a sexual attraction to somebody 13-years old who is sexually mature. Pedophilia is attraction to children who have not reached puberty. Pedophilia is an attraction to people who don’t have functioning sex organs yet. Who have not gone through puberty. Who are too young to be able to understand. That is not what we are talking about.” One of the hosts then agreed that Milo wasn’t defending pedophilia.
Here is a longer cut where Milo Yiannopoulos says that he "is advocating" for legal sex between 13 year olds! & older men. #CPAC2017 pic.twitter.com/1fiuv7TSKs
— The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) February 19, 2017
Later in that interview, Milo did say that he didn’t object to the legal age of consent. It is a complete lie that he advocated for legal sex between 13-year-olds and older men. You’ll notice in all the Reagan Battalion videos posted that they’re annotated - attempting to lead the viewer to their conclusion.
Here is the Milo clip that has been edited out, where he explicitly agrees with age of consent laws.@jaketapper is lying to you. pic.twitter.com/ddfiLGRzNx
— The Swog Blog (@TheSwogBlog) February 20, 2017
He does say “but, there are certainly people who are capable of consenting at a young age, I certainly consider myself to be one of them” The “I’m one of them” comment was in reference to the aforementioned relationship he had with a 29-year-old man while he was 17 (the legal age of consent in the UK, where he’s from, is 16). In the full interview, he referred to himself as an “outlier” when it came to if those kind of relationships were OK. He later clarified what he meant on his Facebook page:
The Battalion later posted a fuller clip, where they claim is a 5-minute video of Milo advocating for pederasty involving 13-year-olds. You can watch the video below The comment that we’re supposed to believe is an endorsement of pederasty is when Milo specifies that “pedophilia is not an attraction to someone who is 13 years old… pedophilia is an attraction to children” - which is accurately defining the term.
He then says “you don’t understand what pedophilia is if you think I’m defending it. Of course, a sexual relationship with someone underage would still be illegal even if it doesn’t meet the “pedophilia” criteria, though Milo doesn’t explicitly advocate or attempt to normalize relationships with 13 year olds like the below video claims in the description. Anyway, watch for yourself:
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
— The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) February 20, 2017
That isn’t to say that there aren’t some questionable statements made by him. He said he had no problem admitting that he see’s nothing wrong with “cross-generational relationships,” but he didn’t define an age range. He also managed to joke about an incident in his childhood when he was molested by a priest — but that didn’t sit well either.
To be perfectly honest, I (Matt Palumbo) think there’s some Stockholm Syndrome at work here. It’s understandable that someone who despises victim-hood culture as much as he does doesn’t want to view themselves as a victim of a crime, which Milo certain was (even though he tries to joke about it).
Anyway, it didn’t matter that he didn’t endorse pedophilia. It didn’t matter that he was the victim, not the perpetrator. As is the case for the regressive left, the narrative was more important than the facts, and Milo will no longer be speaking at CPAC.
Great job Reagan Battalion, it’s not like anyone wanted to see him anyway.
Oh wait.
[Note: This post was authored by Matt Palumbo. Follow him on Twitter @MattPalumbo12]
P.S. For anyone curious, here are Milo’s public statements on the matter (language warning):
