Milo Yiannopoulos has resigned as senior editor at Breitbart News and apologized after a coming under fire over comments that appeared to approve paedophilia.
The conservative writer said in a statement his “poor choice of words” was detracting from his colleagues’ work, so he was quitting immediately.
Milo Yiannopoulos, 32, had already lost a book deal and a speaking engagement over the row.
Videos surfaced of him discussing the merits of gay relationships between adults and boys.
However, Milo Yiannopoulos, the tech editor, denied he had endorsed child abuse and said one video had been edited to give a misleading impression.
At a press conference on February 21, he explained that he had been referring to his own experiences as a victim of child abuse.
He said that two men, including a priest, had touched him inappropriately when he was in his young teens.
“I haven’t ever apologized before, and I don’t intend on ever doing it again,” he read to a room full of reporters.
“To be a victim of child abuse and at the same time be accused of being an apologist for child abuse is absurd.”
However, Milo Yiannopoulos’ mea culpa came too late to save him from being axed in the line-up at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland.
The CPAC said his response had been “insufficient”.
Publisher Simon & Schuster also cancelled Milo Yiannopoulos’ forthcoming book, Dangerous.
During his press conference the British writer claimed to have received interest from other publishers, and vowed to set aside 10% of the book’s profits to donate to charities that support victims of child abuse.
He appears to thrive on controversy and is accused by some of being a peddler of hate speech.
Milo Yiannopoulos was banned from Twitter after provoking online harassment of a black actress, Leslie Jones, from the Ghostbusters remake.
He has also been widely criticized for comments he has made about feminists, transgender people, Muslims and Black Lives Matter protesters.
The University of Berkeley in California earlier this month canceled a talk by Milo Yiannopoulos, following violent student protests.
