Milo Yiannopoulos sold just 152 copies of his book in the UK
Right wing figure Milo Yiannopoulos has sold just 152 copies of his book ‘Dangerous’ in the UK, it has been reported.
The book sold 18,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen Bookscan. It had debuted at number one of Amazon’s non-fiction chart.
Yiannopoulos’ PR team had claimed that 100,000 copies had been sold in the US.
And the blogger has added that the delay in the sales count is down to booksellers underestimating demand and not ordering enough copies.
He said: “By now, you may have heard reports claiming we only sold 18,000 copies of Dangerous and that our 100,000 copies claim is exaggerated. I’m happy to report that this is fake news.”
The book was originally dropped by publisher Simon & Schuster after he made comments about child abuse.
A conservative publishing house had been rumoured to be buying his first book after he lost a book deal due to various outbursts.
But he later self-published the book.
Major publisher Simon & Schuster had originally commissioned the book from Yiannopoulos, offering him $250,000 for the rights.
However it cancelled the deal “after careful consideration”, when controversial video footage emerged of him appearing to defend men who have sex with underage boys.
Other authors had also threatened a boycott of the publishers after offering Milo the deal.
Yiannopoulos released a written statement and a video after he lost his job at Breitbart news and his book deal, following his remarks about child abuse, saying he is “partly to blame”.
He says that it was a “blend of British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humour” which brings him to “regret”, any understanding.
Going on, he added: “I do not advocate for illegal behaviour. I explicitly say on the tapes that I think the current age of consent is ‘about right.’
“I do not believe sex with 13-year-olds is okay. When I mentioned the number 13, I was talking about the age I lost my own virginity.
“I shouldn’t have used the word “boy” — which gay men often do to describe young men of consenting age — instead of “young man.” That was an error.”
But he admits that he is “certainly guilty” of using “imprecise language”.
The far-right figure and internet troll is already deeply controversial, previously claiming he would ‘cure’ himself of being gay if he could, describing trans people as “mentally ill gay men dressing up for attention”, and using a university lecture to single out and bully a transgender student on-stage.
His book’s launch party saw trouble too, after a restaurant cancelled his booking when it realised what the reservation had been made for.
After the controversy, Yiannopoulos claimed that he had raised $12 million in investments in order to start a new media company.
