Skip to main content

Freedom of Speech – Milo Yiannopoulos

By January 5, 2017News

In recent days more and more people have spoken out against Simon & Schuster’s decision to publish infamous internet troll and Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos’ book which showcases his bigotries.

There is no doubting that to most people the man in question is a deplorable specimen of humanity who should never be given any publicity or have his archaic views released into the public domain but it seems as though it is inevitable that his book will be published and that Simon & Schuster are about to profit hugely from one man’s bigotries.

During his tenure at Breitbart Yiannopoulos told ‘gay people’ to ‘get back in the closet’ and women to ‘log off the internet’ and in doing so has amassed an enormous following of over a million people on Facebook. This of course means that Threshold Editions the Simon & Schuster imprint (which was founded in 2006 with a mission to “provide a forum for the creative people, bedrock principles, and innovative ideas of contemporary conservatism” and to chronicle the historic reforms those people and principles would bring) looks as though it has a huge hit on its hands.



Adam Morgan who is the editor-in-chief of the Chicago Review of Books wrote in The Guardian that due to Simon & Schuster’s decision to publish such a controversial writer’s work that “As the editor-in-chief of a small literary review, I wanted Simon & Schuster to know that broadcasting his rhetoric would have real-world consequences. So I made a decision that has nothing to do with political ideology and everything to do with human rights and decency: the Chicago Review of Books will not cover a single Simon & Schuster book in 2017.”

In response to this decision Adam says that “According to thousands of Twitter and Facebook users, our stance is equivalent to censorship, fascism and book-burning. By choosing not to review Simon & Schuster books for a year, they claim we’re contradicting both the first amendment and our own mission to cover “diverse voices”. In response, they’ve photoshopped my head onto a Nazi soldier, posted my photo with the caption “WARNING! This man was just accused of molesting young children!” and expressed their hope that the next wave of Chicago shootings might “take out” some of our editors.”

But he is insistent that they are not infringing upon Yiannopoulos’ or Simon & Schuster’s free speech. “Yiannopoulos has the constitutional right to say whatever he wants. He can call Leslie Jones a “black dude” who is “barely literate”. He can call Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig and Kate McKinnon “fat” and “ugly”. He can call transgender people “mentally ill” and “retarded,” and mock a transgender student during a speech at her own school.” However, this right does not protect either him or the Publishers from any repercussions “The literary community – and society at large – has the freedom to respond in kind. That’s why the UK division of Simon & Schuster has decided not to publish Yiannopoulos’s book. It’s why some professionals, such as author Danielle Henderson and audiobook producer Emmett Plant, are reconsidering their relationships with the publisher.”



Literature has long been a haven for those whose views are not the norm, we have books that make us feel uncomfortable, Lolita will forever be a bone of contention between those who see it as the chronicles of a paedophile and those who see it as a beautifully written classic. Books have banned, un-banned, censored, and removed from school libraries since time immemorial and we always fight for their reinstatement. The word ‘nigger’ is used in Mark Twain’s series of novels featuring Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, yet we would be furious at its censorship, we regularly encourage our followers to read formerly banned books and we ourselves read books on subjects that we would never condone in real life, so why is this book different?

For me it is the mindset behind the book, the derogatory language and hate speech used is not intended to be part of a literary landscape, it is merely there to cause hurt, to divide, to disgust and that is not literature.

In a statement, Simon & Schuster assured readers they “do not and never have condoned discrimination or hate speech in any form” but their handing over a $250,000 publishing deal to a man whose fame relies on spouting exactly that, their actions speak far louder than their words.



Leave your vote

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.