Following the Capital Gazette shooting, right-wing pundit Milo Yiannopoulos said his ‘gun journos down’ statement was not a call for violence, and accused left-wing press of exploiting deaths while the bodies are ‘barely cold.’
Before authorities even named the motive behind the fatal shooting of five people at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, a number of journalists and activists took to Twitter to blame it on words President Donald Trump and Yiannopoulos have spoken about the press. Yiannopoulos issued a response via Facebook emphasizing that he “wasn’t being serious” when he called on vigilantes to gun down the press.
READ MORE: Gunman kills 5, injures 3 in Maryland newspaper shooting
“The bodies are barely cold and left-wing journalists are already exploiting these deaths to score political points against me. It’s disgusting. I regret nothing I said, though of course like any normal person I am saddened to hear of needless death,” the 33-year old wrote.
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this shooter — just like the last one at YouTube — is another demented left-winger. Let’s hope it’s another transgender shooter, too, so the casualties are minimal,” he added.
‘Fake news a new standard, media drunk on hatred’: Yiannopoulos explains ‘gun journos down’ prank
On April 3, Nasim Najafi Aghdam opened fire at the YouTube offices in San Bruno, California, injuring three people. The 38-year-old was reportedly angry her videos had been demonetized.
The latest controversy surrounding the former Breitbart writer arises from his response to a number of publications that contacted him for an interview. Not wishing to speak with outlets he considered hostile, Yiannopoulos wrote in a private email that he “can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight.” The quote was then published by several outlets.
In a statement to RT, Yiannopoulos explained that his controversial statement was an attempt to “troll” hostile journalists and “feed the media bait,” but it took a life of its own on Thursday, after a yet-unidentified gunman killed five people at the Annapolis, Maryland offices of Capital Gazette.
“I made a private, offhand troll to two hostile reporters, who breathlessly publicized it and like vermin their fellow journalists swarmed to remind the world how much they hate Milo. If the Left was truly horrified by violence against journalists, they would have shown it in the aftermath of Charlie Hebdo. As you all know, they didn’t,” Yiannopoulos said.
He accused the Observer and the Daily Beast, to whom the email was directed, of spinning his comments out of context and “drumming up fake hysteria about a private joke.”
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