An “extremism unit” within the British government has blocked Milo Yiannopoulos from making a speaking appearance at his own former school.
Yiannopoulos, a Breitbart editor and British national who has become famous for his provocative speaking appearances, was scheduled to appear at Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys in Canterbury, which he had previously been expelled from as a boy. But now, Yiannopoulos has been barred from returning to the school because his views are considered too extremist.
According to James Soderholm, the instructor who invited Yiannopoulos, the school was contacted by an anti-extremist unit in the U.K.’s department of education, which asked it to cancel the event. Soderholm said the school didn’t have to obey, but did so because it feared protests and a potential safety threat to students.
“Objection to our hosting Mr Yiannopoulus came almost entirely from people with no direct connection to The Langton,” he said, according to the BBC. “The staff and students of the school were overwhelmingly in favor.”
“My old high school has been bullied into canceling my talk on Tuesday by the ‘counter-extremism’ unit at the U.K. Department of Education. Who even knew the DoE had a counter-extremism unit?” Yiannopoulos complained on Facebook. “Perhaps if I’d called the speech “MUSLIMS ARE AWESOME!” they’d have left us alone.”
In another statement to The Sun newspaper, Yiannopoulos slammed U.K. prime minister Theresa May as a “total fascist” enforcing order with “counter-extremist goons.”
Yiannopoulos events have caused a major tumult in the past. Most notably, an appearance at DePaul University last summer was shut down because it was completely overrun by protesters.
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