Milo Yiannopoulos was destroyed by a 16-year-old girl
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – NOVEMBER 29: Milo Yiannopoulos reacts during a press conference on arrival at the Sydney International Airport on November 29, 2017 in Sydney, Australia. Yiannopoulos is in Australia for his Troll Academy Tour. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)
A 16-year-old girl was responsible for sparking the story that took down far-right troll Milo Yiannopoulos.
Yiannopoulos, a popular far right figurehead, was left with his career in tatters last week after damaging tapes emerged in which he discussed men who have sex with underage boys.
In just 24 hours the influential columnist was dropped from far-right news website Breitbart News, had his book deal axed by Simon & Schuster, and was removed from the line-up of the Republican CPAC conference.
Some of Yiannopoulos’ cult-like followers believe that there was a great moderate conspiracy to smear him – but the story was actually sparked by a 16-year-old girl.
Vox spoke to the Canadian teenager, who is keeping her name private as other public foes of Yiannopoulos have been subjected to death threats and abuse from his followers.
The teen was responsible for digging up the old podcast clip of Yiannopoulos after hearing that he had been announced as a speaker at CPAC.
She tipped off conservative blog Reagan Battalion with a link to the video, and the blog picked it up – sparking the chain of events that led to the destruction of his career.
Her involvement may be seen as poetic by some, given Yiannopoulos found fame on the internet during the ‘Gamergate’ controversy, attacking the role of women in the video game industry.
The teen explained: “I had no idea that it would blow up to the extent that it did.
“I see Milo as this embodiment of the awfulness you see over the past few years with the general tilt of millennial conservatism.
“It’s diverged from this traditional conservatism so much. You’ve seen it essentially become full of awfulness and all about attacking the left and not about actual principles.
“It has nothing to do with conservative ideology so much as it has with opposing the leftists, SJWs, and so on and so forth.”
She also attacked the culture of intimidation and hostility on the right that grew up around Yiannopoulos.
The teen said: “You shouldn’t have to feel intimidated to stand up for what you believe in.
“Hopefully they’ll realize that you can’t keep being this reactionary movement — if you can even call it that.
“You can’t just keep looking for enemies to attack and pointing the finger. Eventually, you have to stand up for something.”
