Breitbart technology editor Milo Yiannopoulos, whose complete ban by Twitter for launching a campaign of harassment against Saturday Night Live cast member Leslie Jones still stands, announced a new book deal with publisher Simon & Schuster on Thursday. According to the Hollywood Reporter, neither Yiannopoulos nor the publisher’s imprint, Threshold Editions, have officially released any information regarding the book deal’s financial details. Yet unconfirmed reports indicate the amount the former Twitter troll will receive close to $250,000 for the deal.
Yiannopoulos took the opportunity to ridicule critics who initially celebrated his permanent Twitter ban:
“They said banning me from Twitter would finish me off. Just as I predicted, the opposite has happened,” Yiannopoulos told THR, confirming the upcoming book without commenting on financial details. “Did it hurt Madonna being banned from MTV in the 1990s? Did all that negative press hurt Donald Trump’s chances of winning the election?”
Since Simon & Schuster has confirmed the book deal, and since Donald Trump will in fact be the 45th President of the United States, it’s safe to say that the “negative press” celebrated here by Yiannopoulos didn’t hurt him one bit. For as the 33-year-old darling of the so-called “alt-right” explained it, his many attempts to “shock” publishing executives were only met with more lucrative offers:
“I met with top execs at Simon & Schuster earlier in the year and spent half an hour trying to shock them with lewd jokes and outrageous opinions. I thought they were going to have me escorted from the building — but instead they offered me a wheelbarrow full of money.”
Yiannopoulos’ boasts notwithstanding, his newfound top spot in the news feed is sure to dig up some of the less pleasant aspects of his time in the spotlight. A social media-driven career that, aside from the unfortunate targeting of Jones, includes stories like The Daily Beast’s August report detailing how he took over $100,000 in donations for charity and kept the money for himself.
(Via the Hollywood Reporter)