With his career in decline, right-wing provocateur and pedophilia apologist Milo Yiannopoulos is taking a stab at making himself relevant again. This time, he’s calling for vigilantes to carry out targeted assassinations on journalists, according to the Observer.
In a text message to reporters who contact him, Milo has taken up the habit of replying, “I can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight.”
The Observer reports that he made the comments after they sought his input on a story about a restaurant he frequents. According to the Daily Beast, Milo issued them the same threat after they sought his comments on a story about his alleged effort to take over the UK’s failing far-right pro-white party UKIP.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Milo isn’t just being ironic in his choice of words.
“Yiannopoulos appears to be dead serious – that is, he sincerely believes that right-wing assassins should begin taking out targeted reporters,” the SPLC’s David Neiwert writes. “He’s been saying so on a number of forums, and it’s clear that he isn’t being simply ‘ironic’ in the classic alt-right hall-of-mirrors fashion.”
In a now-deleted Instagram post, Milo told Mediaite reporter Amy Russo 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,” he continued. “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.”
One person is endorsing Milo’s new line of attack, however, and that’s the editor of the white supremacist website Daily Stormer, Andrew Anglin.
“Killing journalists is an awesome position to promote,” Anglin wrote this Wednesday.
Either way, Milo’s latest attempt at rebranding may not have the results he’s looking for, but he’ll always be a convenient tool of various far-right figures.
Featured image via screen grab/YouTube
