Who is Milo Yiannopoulos? Fall of British editor and Trump fan who resigned after ‘condoning paedophilia'

Last night, controversial right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos stood down as the editor-in-chief of Breitbart News – after footage emerged in which he appeared to condone paedophilia.

It came only a day after publishers Simon & Schuster announced that they were cancelling the 32-year-old’s book deal after the controversial comments aired on YouTube.

In the footage, which originated on the DrunkenPeasants podcast, Yiannopoulos is heard to say: ‘Paedophilia is not a sexual attraction to somebody 13 years old, who is sexually mature.

‘Paedophilia is attraction to children who have not reached puberty. Paedophilia is attraction to people who don’t have functioning sex organs yet who have not gone through puberty.’

But while the fall-out has proved to be the most damaging to Yiannopoulos’ career so far, it’s the latest in a series of controversies that have engulfed him since he first emerged as a journalist in 2011 – establishing tech website The Kernel.

When he sold the website in 2014, he faced a series of legal challenges from unpaid writers who failed to received payment after the website ran up huge debts.

He joined Breitbart News in 2015 as a senior editor in 2015, a right-wing US website that has been accused of running openly racist and misogynistic headlines.

During his time on the site, Yiannopoulos was slammed for writing headlines such as ‘Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy’ and ‘Would You Rather Your Child Had Feminism or Cancer?’

The website also has close ties to Donald Trump’s Presidential administration – with chief executive Steve Bannon becoming the White House head of staff in November 2016.

Last summer, he came to wider significance when he was banned from Twitter after reportedly encouraging his followers to direct a barrage of abuse at Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones – with the star receiving a slew of racist and misogynistic abuse.

He has also been viewed as a prominent figurehead in the emergence of the alt-right movement – which has been accused of promoting white nationalism and racism online in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election.

But it remains to be seen whether Yiannopoulos’ career can now recover, after he lost two of his most high-profile platforms in a matter of days.

On Monday, Simon & Schuster announced that they would not be publishing his autobiography, Dangerous, after the footage emerged in which he appeared to endorse paedophilia.

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Last night, he also announced his resignation from Breitbart News at a press conference in New York.

He told the assembled media: ‘I would be wrong to allow my poor choice of words to detract from my colleagues’ important reporting, so today I am resigning from Breitbart, effective immediately.’

After resigning from his most profile position yet, it’s unclear where Yiannopoulos’ controversial career will head next – or if it will be able to recover at all.