Controversial gay conservative blogger Milo Yiannopoulos was banned from Twitter after he was involved in a Twitter war with actress Leslie Jones. Jones claimed that Yiannopoulos made racist comments against her after he wrote a review panning her new movie, Ghostbusters . Yiannopoulos has now been permanently banned from Twitter, but he’s moving on.
Vox reported that Milo Yiannopoulos said he didn’t need Twitter . Yiannopoulos threw a party near the Republican National Convention. He gave a speech where he was wearing a bulletproof vest, which he proceeded to rip off. Underneath was a tight fitting t-shirt with a rainbow Uzi and the slogan, “we shoot back.” A tech writer for Breitbart , Milo is considered a fairly militant gay man, and he’s conservative too, adding to the controversy.
. @twitter begins to actively delete “mean” tweets. Yet cop killers & terrorists r still ok #FreeMilo #FreeMiloNow https://t.co/PZQ0BCltpD
— Mommar (@MisterCommodity) July 20, 2016
In spite of the ban, Milo said he wasn’t phased by it.
“Is anything more wonderful than getting banned? Are you insane?. My life is more fun now, and it’s about to get a lot more fun.”
Although he said he doesn’t need social media, he wants to start a culture war and is working to inspire his followers to participate. He put on a brave face, although it’s hard to tell if it’s a performance or he’s serious. He said his message was tailored to the social platform he is on.
“I perform totally differently on different platforms, depending on what works. It’s always the same message, but it’s a different style.”
First Milo permaban story I’ve seen NOT written by a white dude.
It’s more insightful AND more accurate @ajaromano https://t.co/IM8Vb1AYVf
— Brianna Wu (@Spacekatgal) July 20, 2016
The Hollywood Reporter reported that Yiannopoulos was in talks for a reality show as well as a movie following his Twitter ban. The Twitter ban stemmed from a very public fight between Yiannopoulos and actress Leslie Jones after he wrote a negative review of her movie Ghostbusters . Yiannopoulos was accused of egging his fans on to harass Leslie Jones.
Also a comedic writer, Milo revealed his plans in a live interview on Facebook with the Hollywood Reporter .
“I have a couple of deals on the table I’m thinking about. We are currently considering a reality show, we are currently considering a feature-length movie.”
Twitter hasn’t been specific about what it was that Yiannopoulos did to Jones that caused him to get kicked off the Twitter platform. Jones said that she would quit the social media platform after her encounter with Milo, and Twitter simply said that no one deserved to be the subject of harassment.
This crazy woman @Lesdoggg claims harassment to get @Nero banned. Have you see her tweets @Twitter ? Sad! #FreeMilo pic.twitter.com/klRTDFKiqr
— Kassy Dillon (@KassyDillon) July 20, 2016
The Verge reported that Twitter was vague about the reason they banned Milo Yiannopoulos from the platform. What was unclear was whether or not the ban was due to one tweet or a general problem. After publishing his negative review of Ghostbusters , Milo further mocked the situation by supposedly posting screenshots of Jones making statements against both Jews and gays. Although Yiannopoulos may have done plenty to incur the permanent ban, why did Twitter decide to implement the ban now?
Although the facts may seem clear, Twitter failed to provide any of Yiannopoulos’s tweets that would show that he committed a pattern of abuse against Leslie Jones. Although Milo’s behavior was often considered trollish, the Ghostbusters review didn’t single out Jones. The evidence doesn’t point to Yiannopoulos actually committing the harassment against Jones, just that he may have encouraged his followers to engage in abuse. He shouldn’t be held responsible for what other people do.
Do you think the ban on Milo Yiannopoulos should be lifted? Do you think the real problem was that Jones was upset because he panned her movie?
[Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images]
