Here’s Who Kanye West Just Picked to Manage His Campaign
If you thought there was a chance Kanye West was done associating with the far-right’s bottom-of-the-barrel personalities, dispel the notion from your mind. Despite having previously fired right-wing sleezebag Milo Yiannopoulos from his pseudo-presidential “campaign,” Ye has brought him back into the fold to serve as manager for his election run.
Among his first tasks as reinstated Ye sidekick, Yiannopoulos fired West’s white-nationalist adviser Nick Fuentes via email, originally posted by TMZ, and verified by Rolling Stone.
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“As you may know, I have been in Los Angeles for the past week with Ye, discussing his presidential aspirations,” Yiannopoulos wrote. “The result of those discussions is that I will be taking the reins once again as director of his political operations. Your services on Ye’s exploratory team are terminated as of this letter.”
Yiannopoulos previously served as West’s informal campaign manager, but was fired shortly after a series of antisemitic, Hitler-praising rants by West, and a dinner involving West, former President Donald Trump, and Fuentes — which Yiannopoulos credited himself for orchestrating.
The disgraced right-wing commentator had taken a break from serving as an intern for Republican Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene to work on West’s informal campaign. While the rapper has not officially filed paperwork declaring his candidacy, he has declared his intention to run, released merchandise, and made staffing decisions.
The rotating cast of West’s campaign brain trust has brought in some of the most poisonous figures in American politics, including Fuentes and Jan. 6 organizer Ali Alexander. But in case you’re not aware of what kind of beliefs and rhetoric Yiannopoulos traffics in, or find yourself in need of a refresher, here are just some of his vilest moments.
His Multiple Defenses of Pedophilia
Yiannopoulos’ meteoric rise from fringe figure to mainstream political operative was truncated in 2017, when a series of comments he’d made defending sexual relationships between adult men and young boys were unearthed by a Canadian teenager who was tired of his shit.
During a 2016 podcast appearance, Yiannopoulos argued that relationships between adults in their late twenties and 13-year-old boys could “happen perfectly consensually.”
“Pedophilia is not a sexual attraction to somebody 13 years old, who is sexually mature” he said, “pedophilia is attraction to children who have not reached puberty.” Yiannopoulos went on to argue that homosexual boys could benefit from sexual experiences with older men as part of the “coming-of-age process.”
🚨 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
The comments prompted a widespread backlash. The Conservative Political Action Conference canceled Yiannopoulos’ scheduled appearance at its 2017 conference, and the right-wing commentator was forced to resign from his position at Breitbart.
In a separate 2017 appearance, on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Yiannopoulos discussed attending “boat parties” where “very young” boys had engaged in sexual activity with older men.
Yiannopoulos insisted that as a 14-year-old he “was the predator” seeking relationships with adult men, and defended the dynamic. When he asked host Joe Rogan if he had ever seen a 15-year-old girl he thought was “hot,” Rogan rejected the notion, telling Yiannopoulos he was “trying to make it so I’m a fucking creeper like you, I’m not into 14-year-olds.”
His Comments About Islam
Yiannopoulos openly detests the Islamic faith and the people who practice it. Throughout his career, he repeatedly made statements vilifying Muslims and their community.
In the aftermath of the 2016 Pulse Nightclub mass shooting, in which 49 people were killed by an armed gunman who had sworn his allegiance to ISIS, Yiannopoulos placed the blame on the entire Islamic world.
“I’m not talking about Islamists. I’m not talking about terrorists. I’m not talking about radical Islam. I’m talking about mainstream Muslim culture. There are 11 Muslim countries in which I could be killed for being a homosexual,” he said in a radio interview. “This is not radical Islam. This is mainstream Muslim society. … The left has got to make a decision. Either they want female emancipation and it wants gay rights, or it wants Islam. It’s got to pick.”
Following the 2019 mass shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in which 51 people were killed by a white supremacist who livestreamed the attack, Yiannopoulos argued the attack happened because “the establishment panders to and mollycoddles extremist leftism and barbaric, alien religious cultures.”
His Calls for Journalists to Be Shot
In 2018, Yiannopoulos repeatedly advocated for violence against journalists. In one instance he texted a New York Observer reporter asking for comment on an article that he couldn’t “wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight.”
In another interaction, he emailed reporter Amy Russo, then working at Mediaite, that “if journalists keep lying, deceiving and manipulating the public, then they will reap the same hatred they are sowing against Trump and his voters. Truthfully I take no pleasure in the prospect; I’d rather beat you in a debate hall than a wrestling ring. But you did this to yourselves, and you deserve what’s coming.”
In 2018, after a series of pipe bombs were mailed to prominent Democratic lawmakers, Yiannopolous made a post on Instagram lamenting that the bombs “didn’t go off, and the Daily Beast didn’t get one.”
His Antisemitic Comments and Nazi Hangouts
Yiannopoulos’ involvement in West’s recent plunge into antisemitic conspiracy-mongering is not surprising when viewed against his own history.
In 2017, Buzzfeed obtained video of Yiannopoulos singing a rendition of “America the Beautiful” with a group of admirers that included avowed neo-Nazi Richard Spencer. Members of the group lauded the performance with a Nazi Sieg Heil salute. Yiannopoulos claimed that he didn’t see the salute due to his “severe myopia.”
Despite claiming Jewish ancestry, Buzzfeed’s investigation found that Yiannopoulos’ work at Breitbart was heavily influenced by the words and philosophies of prominent white nationalists, including Andrew “Weev” Auernheimer of the Daily Stormer, and Devin Saucier of American Renaissance.
In 2018, Yiannopolous attempted to “troll” Jewish journalist Talia Lavin by sending her $14.88 via Paypal. “1488” is a common refrain among neo-Nazis, with the 14 representing the “14 words” mantra (“We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children) and the 88 being shorthand for “Heil Hitler.”
His Racism, But Also His (Alleged) Use of Racism to Steal Money
In response to what he called discrimination against white men in major universities, Milo established the “Yiannopoulos Privilege Grant” in 2016. He later told the Daily Beast that he had raised “somewhere between $100,000 and $250,000.”
Despite his concern for the plight of the white man, no one reportedly received any money.
Months after the funds were due to be distributed, Yiannopoulos admitted that the fund had been “mismanaged,” but asserted he had not spent any of the money.
In 2018, the fund was declared defunct. “What started as a social experiment that also did some good — winding up social-justice warriors while also sending poor kids to college — became fodder for disingenuous, mouth-breathing retards in the press to baselessly accuse me of ‘white nationalism’” Yiannopoulos told NBC News.
“Public donations to the grant have been allocated to worthy recipients, and we are in the process of distributing the final awards,” he claimed. “We are also discussing what form future activities may take, and under whose leadership they might proceed. The grant remains a 501(c)(3) charity in good standing with the IRS.”
Others who knew Yiannopoulos claimed bullshit. In 2022, white nationalist Lauren Southern released a video accusing him of having taken “all of it” for himself, and throwing employees of the fund under the bus to save his own skin.
He’s a Dick to Women
There is, of course, no figure in the far-right who does not dabble in misogyny in some form or another, but from petty stunts such as proclaiming his birthday “World Patriarchy Day” and encouraging his followers to “cat-call at least five women” to celebrate it to supporting GamerGate, Yiannopoulos’ record is particularly prolific.
In 2016, Yiannopoulos released a video for Breitbart titled “Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer?” In the video, he questioned random individuals at Michigan University as to whether they would rather their child be a feminist … or have cancer.
Yiannopoulos was banned from Twitter in 2016 after leveling a racist and sexist campaign against actress Leslie Jones in the aftermath of her role in Ghostbusters, calling her “barely literate” and a “black dude.” Following the ban, accounts supporting Yiannopoulos intensified their barrage of vitriol against Jones.
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