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Milo Yiannopoulos, the Man UC Berkeley Snowflakes Fear, Speaks about the Riots Against His Speech — Transcript

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0:00[Music]
0:17[Applause]
0:26Are we going to leave?
0:28[Applause]
0:33That was America last night. Breakbite
0:34editor Milo Yiannopoulos joins us for
0:36his first interview since we spoke with
0:37him by phone last night. Milo, thanks
0:39for joining us. Thank you. So, here's
0:40the reason I want to talk to us. It's
0:41not to endorse your views, many of which
0:43I agree with, some of which I don't. But
0:45the point is you tried to express your
0:47views and prevented by a violent mob.
0:49So, if you were an anarchist or a
0:51Scientologist or a flat earth activist,
0:53it wouldn't matter. You were not allowed
0:55to exercise your First Amendment rights.
0:56And and that's shocking. give us first a
0:58quick recap of what happened last night
1:00to you. Well, I think I I agree with you
1:02um in the first place. I mean, I I'm not
1:04any of the things that these posters
1:05characterize me as in a in an effort to
1:07legitimize the violence, but even if I
1:09were, I don't think it would matter for
1:10the reasons you say. Um so, I I went in
1:12uh to do my talk. We go in a couple of
1:14hours before to set up our tech and for
1:16me to, you know, put on a costume or
1:17something. I had a wonderful outfit
1:18plan, which is the main reason I'm upset
1:19about yesterday. Um I was going to go to
1:21n I was going to talk about cultural
1:22appropriation in full Native American
1:23headdress. I had a full custom headdress
1:25with my name embroidered on it. I'm so
1:27mad that I didn't get to wear that.
1:28Anyway, we went in for like an hour or
1:30two beforehand. We were planning it and
1:32suddenly there were these explosions
1:34outside. There were firecrackers and
1:35rocks being held at the building. The
1:37police were having things hurled at
1:38them. Um and we I was evacuated up to
1:41the fifth floor like by the fire escape.
1:43It was all very exciting. Um and then
1:44suddenly, you know, I was being I was
1:46being taken out of the building. I was
1:47informed that that I was being evacuated
1:49uh because there were hundreds of
1:50protesters outside blowing things up,
1:52hurling things at the police. The police
1:54weren't didn't seem to me to be doing
1:55very much aside from hiding inside the
1:57building. The ground floor had been
1:58stormed. So, we had to rush down to the
2:00uh the the the the parking lot um find
2:04one car and exit was blocked. So, we run
2:06to we ran to another car and we finally
2:07got in one and I was, you know, bundled
2:09in, put in a bulletproof vest and
2:11whisked away. And that is the price you
2:13pay for being a libertarian or
2:14conservative on American college
2:15campuses. So, what's so striking is I
2:17have no doubt the average police officer
2:19does not sympathize with a mob like
2:20that. I just have no doubt about it. But
2:22the truth is they did not come to your
2:24defense in a meaningful way. The video
2:25proves it. You're affirming it now. Why?
2:28Well, um we don't know for absolutely
2:29sure. But one thing I can tell you is
2:31that the mayor of um of Berkeley who was
2:34sort of gleefully egging this stuff on
2:37yesterday who today had to apologize for
2:39for you know the usual leftist name
2:41calling of me today. Um what did he say
2:43about you? Oh, the usual slurs. You know
2:45this white supremacist speaker. I mean,
2:47please, anyone who's spent 5 seconds in
2:48my company or two seconds in my bedroom
2:50knows I'm not a white supremacist. Um,
2:52but you know, this usual slurs that they
2:54wheel out in in a in a sort of effort to
2:56legitimize violence against you. You
2:58know, they want to call you the worst
2:58possible name. It's like, you know, the
3:00punch a Nazi thing, right? Well, I could
3:02imagine a reasonable person being taken
3:04some way along the argument of like it's
3:06okay to punch Nazis, but the problem is
3:07the left calls everyone Nazis. So,
3:09basically, they can punch any isn't it
3:11Nazis who do the punching? Isn't that
3:13what separates Nazis from the rest of
3:14us?
3:15tolerate descent, but civilized people
3:17do. You would think so. I mean, when my
3:18book was announced, of course, there
3:19were people saying they were going to
3:20burn it while calling me the fascist. I
3:22mean, this is the sort of irony the
3:23progressive left in America doesn't seem
3:24to to to appreciate. But the real
3:26problem is this name calling because,
3:27you know, as as grateful as I am to be
3:29on the show, and I like the attention.
3:30Um, the real people that I want to hear
3:32from, uh, are, you know, the guys who
3:34run CNN who are legitimizing ordinary
3:36conservatives being called white
3:38supremacists, anti-semmites, racist,
3:40sexist when they're not. There's an
3:41inevitable obvious consequence to Well,
3:43I I you know, I obviously have an
3:46interest in this because I don't anymore
3:47work at that network. So, I I don't even
3:49want to affirm what you just said, but I
3:50have to because it's true. Now, here is
3:52a tweet that they sent out and I'm
3:53quoting. This is from a CNN Twitter
3:55feed. Extremist Milo Yiannopoulos, whose
3:58Berkeley event sparked protests, takes
4:00on the college establishment and rallies
4:02white supremacists. That's from the CNN
4:04Twitter feed. I mean, is any of that
4:06true? No. I mean, beggars belief. I
4:08mean, you know, it's just beggars belief
4:09that But the subtext is you deserve it.
4:11Yes, it is. Yes, it is. And these people
4:13must be held to account. You know, the
4:15media has created this environment in
4:16which it's it's okay to say almost
4:17anything about somebody who is, you
4:20know, right of Jane Fonda. Uh you know,
4:21if you if you have slightly conservative
4:23or even libertarian points of view,
4:25especially if you are persuasive and
4:26charismatic and funny and effective like
4:28we both are, you will get called the
4:30most appalling things. And it's a way of
4:31legitimizing in some cases, as happened
4:34last night, violent responses. But what
4:35I find so striking about this is that it
4:37should not be a leftright debate because
4:40all Americans as their birthright have
4:43the right enshrined in the bill of
4:44rights to say what they think is true.
4:46Period. And yet I checked extensively
4:49and so did our staff today to find
4:51liberals defending you. I found one with
4:52an hono
4:54defense Peter Bard at the Atlantic who
4:57is a sincere and principled liberal
4:59defended you. Yeah. The rest did not.
5:01And some, in fact, seem to endorse the
5:03violence against you that that that
5:05swelts your speech. Well, they're in a
5:07bind, aren't they? Because if you come
5:08out against it and you condemn it,
5:10you're sort of saying there's something
5:11wrong with your own side. You're saying
5:12that something we have done has created
5:14an environment in which it's okay to
5:16physically attack the guests. I mean,
5:18you know, let's let's be completely
5:19clear. There's this attempt to paint
5:22what happened last night as the
5:23destruction of property and as sort of,
5:25you know, as as protest. It wasn't. It
5:27was violent rioting in which people were
5:29physically assaulted. People were
5:30bleeding, people were beaten. Um, you
5:32know, all sorts of things happened. The
5:33people who just showed up, not all of
5:34whom were fans of mine, but just who
5:36wanted to come and just listen to what I
5:37had to say, you know, and those people
5:39were were were attacked, physically
5:41attacked. Right? This is political
5:42violence in response to perfectly
5:45mainstream opinion. And what CNN and
5:47other networks like that want to do is
5:48suggest that there's something
5:49otherworldly or sinister or nefarious
5:51about me to legitimize the bad behavior
5:53on their own side. But even if there is
5:55something otherworldly or sinister or
5:57nefarious about you, you still have a
6:00right, an absolute right to express your
6:02political views, do you not? I mean, at
6:04what point? But it makes it particularly
6:05ridiculous when, you know, I don't say,
6:07as even New York magazine admitted
6:09today, um, anything that is outside of
6:11the mainstream of, let's say, any
6:13typical Trump voter. I don't have
6:14opinions that, you know, millions of
6:15Americans don't share. You know, um, I
6:17just happen to say them in a slightly
6:19more provocative and interesting way and
6:20on a slightly larger platform. So, just
6:22to give I mean, I can give a thousand
6:23examples. This is the New York Times
6:24headline over the story about what
6:26happened last night. This is today.
6:28Berkeley cancels Milo Yiannopoulos
6:30speech and Donald Trump tweets outrage.
6:33No mention of the fact that you were
6:36shut down by a mob. And this is the
6:38first line. A speech by the divisive
6:40right-wing writer Milo Yiannopoulos,
6:41University of California. They're trying
6:43to they're trying to insinuate. I mean,
6:44Bloomberg did the same thing. They said
6:46Marley Yiannopoulos sparks riots. You
6:48know, I was like, hang on a second now.
6:52What is what are they trying to assume?
6:53So where's this heading exactly? Well uh
6:55I feel actually more optimistic about
6:59this than probably most conservatives
7:00because you know I've been on more
7:02college campuses I think than anybody
7:03else in America over the last 12 months
7:04as part of my tour and I have seen a
7:06change in atmosphere. I've seen
7:07conservatives becoming more emboldened
7:09and happier. I have seen also um huge
7:11numbers of alumni changing their
7:14positions on whether or not they're
7:15going to support their old schools. I
7:16mean Missouri when they kind of pandered
7:18to race baiters they discovered they
7:19lost you know 30 $40 million in alumni
7:21donations and enrollment went down so
7:23much they had to close two dorms you
7:24know this um this is going to start
7:26happening all over America and my view
7:29is you know that the the American higher
7:30education market and it is a market um
7:33is going to fix this because schools are
7:35going to have to pick either they go the
7:36direction of the University of Chicago
7:38and they say you know what don't apply
7:39here if you want safe spaces and trigger
7:41warnings this is a place you come to be
7:42challenged this is a place you come to
7:44expose yourself to people you think that
7:46you're going to hate and see if it
7:47changes your point of view or they're
7:49going to go the direction of the
7:49University of Missouri and only one type
7:51of those institutions is going to be
7:52financially viable in the long term. So
7:54when so I'm sure we're going to get mail
7:56saying, you know, Milo is not a serious
7:58person. He's a provocator to which I
7:59would say I could care less. He's got a
8:01point of view and he has a right to
8:02express it. But I am interested in your
8:04response to that criticism because you
8:05hear it a lot that you're not actually
8:06making an argument that you're
8:08intentionally trying to provoke the kind
8:10of response we saw last night. Um well
8:12my my response is so what? Who cares?
8:14Um, I'm an entertainer. I'm a performer.
8:16People like, you know, I guess my my
8:18sort of things are sort of part lecture,
8:19part standup. One of the things that
8:21authoritarians hate, one of the things
8:22dictators hate is the sound of laughter
8:24because they can't control it. They
8:26can't control what you find funny. And
8:27that's one of the reasons the left is
8:29always trying to dictate what humor is
8:30is acceptable. You know, oh, you can't
8:32tell that joke because that's sexist.
8:33You can't tell that joke because that's
8:34racist. Well, they do that because
8:36laughter you can't control. And and and
8:37and um trying to sort of hammer that
8:41down. I'm the worst example for them of
8:43a of somebody who is persuasive and
8:44interesting and funny. Every one of my
8:46shows is sold out. Every single time I
8:48do a talk, people say, "I never thought
8:49of that. You've really converted me." So
8:50that makes me dangerous. Dangerous
8:52because my audience is so young, so big,
8:55so strong. I'm the person probably that
8:56annoys them more than anybody except
8:58Donald Trump because I'm effective. And
8:59that scares them. Who, by the way,
9:01tweeted about you, I think, at 3:00 in
9:03the morning. Daddy did. Daddy did. He's
9:04got my back. to say this is appalling
9:07and to threaten pulling federal funding
9:10from the University of California system
9:12to which the the lieutenant governor by
9:13the way of California did not attack
9:15Gavin Newsome did not attack the mob
9:17that set vehicles on fire and tried to
9:19injure you and did injure a bunch of
9:20other people but attack Trump for
9:22threatening the funding. Well, you know,
9:24this seems to be a fairly obvious
9:25consequence if you don't uphold your
9:27legal responsibility to, you know, to to
9:30to enforce the first amendment, you
9:32know, to provide speakers with platforms
9:34and audiences with safe uh, you know,
9:36uh, the ability to go and listen to
9:38speakers of all different kinds uh,
9:40agnostic of of ideology as you were
9:42saying earlier. If you don't do that as
9:43a university, you're not performing your
9:45essential function. You know, um,
9:46Berkeley gets $370 million uh, dollars a
9:49year. It is one of the biggest research
9:51uh, universities. It's one of the
9:52highest ranked research universities,
9:53but it's churning out graduates who
9:55don't do very much because only 47% of
9:57their graduates go on to full-time
9:58employment when they leave. Seems to me
10:00that a lot of that federal money could
10:01be repurposed very effectively if if
10:04Berkeley refuses to honor its its First
10:06Amendment commitments. Yeah. For HDAC
10:08repair training, I would say. Um, so I
10:10want to get to your book. You're
10:11traveling the country because you're
10:12selling a book. Uh, well, I'm traveling.
10:14Well, I've just started. I think I'm
10:16about to switch into the book tour. So
10:17Berkeley was supposed to be the last
10:19grand finale. My wonderful costume
10:21finale was supposed to be the grand
10:22finale. I'm now focused. You're smoking
10:24at me. I'm now focused on the book of
10:26course which is rocketed to number one
10:28the Amazon bestsellers when it was
10:29announced. So it's a Simon and
10:30Schustster book and they took a lot of
10:32criticism for giving you an advance on
10:33the book and for publishing it in the
10:35first place. And part of their response
10:36was to pledge that the book would not
10:38contain what's called hate speech. Yes.
10:40What is hate speech? I don't know. I'm
10:42probably going to get terrible trouble
10:43with them but I have no idea. And I
10:45don't think anybody else knows either. I
10:46mean, it seems to be speech that
10:48somebody doesn't like somewhere, a joke
10:50that's wrong, some some, you know, thing
10:52that someone offends someone's
10:53sensibilities or hurt feelings or
10:55politics or something. Certainly, the
10:56Supreme Court doesn't recognize it as a
10:58kind of speech that should be, you know,
11:00treated with any any special reference
11:01or whatever. Hate speech, it seems to
11:03me, has been defined by the political
11:04left as anything we don't like, anything
11:06that violates social justice doctrine,
11:08feminism, black lives matter kind of
11:09ideology. Uh, it's not something that I
11:12have ever heard um particularly
11:13effectively defined. I have literally no
11:16idea what it is. I have no idea what it
11:17is. But did because your publisher,
11:18Simon and Schustster, has pledged to
11:20keep it out of your book, did an editor
11:21say to you, "Here's how we define hate
11:23speech, and here's what we're going to
11:24be striking from your manuscript in so
11:26much trouble." Uh, I don't know what
11:28they mean by that. I um, look, all I can
11:31tell you, this book actually is going to
11:32be a lot more serious than people
11:33probably anticipate from me. I have my
11:35college tour to lob bombs, to be
11:37outrageous, to whatever. This book's
11:39actually pretty meaty, pretty
11:40substantial. It it demonstrates a lot of
11:43reading, a lot of consideration of the
11:44issues. This book is already going to be
11:46one of the big books of 2017. It is
11:48going to be one of those a big sort of
11:50signature uh you know cultural moment
11:52for a particular millennial generation
11:53that suddenly woke up and decided that
11:54being Republican was cool and was a
11:56libertarian you know punk uh alternative
11:58choice. I'm one of the people they look
12:00up to as a you know as a sort of as a
12:02whatever cultural figure. This book
12:04actually is much more serious than
12:06people imagine. So if you if you're a
12:07feminist or a Black Lives Matter
12:08activist who is looking to be offended
12:11by this book, you might be disappointed.
12:12And if you're somebody who's going in
12:14just thinking, "Oh, this is going to be
12:15a load of, you know, jokes about his
12:16black boyfriends and, you know, uh, and
12:18name calling and fat jokes," you might
12:20also be disappointed. This is a pretty
12:21substantial book. It's a book that sets
12:23out where I believe um, America went
12:25wrong in terms of respecting the First
12:26Amendment, the state of free speech on
12:28American college campuses and in the
12:29media and in academia and everywhere
12:31else in American public. We talked about
12:32this last night briefly, but you're
12:34obviously an immigrant to this country
12:36from the UK. Well, I'm on a visa
12:37technically, but on a visa technically.
12:39Presumably, you came here with the
12:41assumption that this was a place where
12:43you could express your beliefs, even if
12:45not everyone agreed with them. It was
12:46horrifying. How has it lived up to the
12:47billing? Horrifying. I honestly I mean,
12:50I don't mean to be theatrical. I'm prone
12:51to melodrama, but it was horrifying to
12:53come here, you know, land of the free,
12:55home of the brave, blah blah blah, you
12:56know, and for me to do a college tour,
12:57to be a journalist here, you know,
12:59imagine the fourth estate in America.
13:01You could be able to say, do be
13:02anything, right? That's what you would
13:03think coming from Europe where we really
13:05don't have free speech protections. I
13:06mean, if it exists, there are rules
13:08about it. If it exists, it is regulated
13:09in Europe. You know, um, and you in
13:11Europe, you can get arrested for being
13:13misogynist, arrested for being
13:14offensive. You know, these are actual
13:15offenses. These are things the police
13:17can can can come and take you away for
13:19in Europe. You know, as Americans never
13:20really get understand how bad it is in
13:21Europe. Um, in America, I always
13:24imagined that this was a country where
13:25you could be, do, and say anything. And
13:27what I've discovered not just in
13:29journalism but also in the entertainment
13:30industry and particularly and most
13:32importantly in academia which is where I
13:34kind of try and pop my tanks on the lawn
13:36and really take the fight to the left
13:37which is why they they hate me so much
13:39because conservatives are so spineless
13:40all the time. um I take the fight to
13:42them and on American college campuses I
13:44have experienced you know restriction
13:46you know restrictions on the freedom of
13:48speech group think and penalties social
13:50and institutional penalties and
13:52financial penalties and financial
13:53penalties for free expression like
13:55nothing I ever experienced in so really
13:56we're almost out of time but we have
13:58guardians of the first amendment
14:00official ones the ACLU is the leading
14:02one historically we tried to get an
14:04Romero the head of it on tonight to talk
14:06about this he's refused to come on we
14:08also by the way try to get the Human
14:09Rights Campaign uh to come on to talk
14:11about this too, but has anybody from the
14:12ACLU or PEN America or any people who
14:14claim to represent the First Amendment
14:16called you to say we're going to help?
14:18No, of course not. No, of course not.
14:19Because these organizations have been,
14:21you know, have almost completely given
14:22themselves over to a particular view of
14:24free speech that is hugely restricted
14:26and which circumscribes, you know, which
14:28which cuts out mainstream ordinary
14:31conservative opinion. There's a reason
14:32there's a sort of parallel conservative
14:34media in this country. There's a reason
14:36why there's this extraordinary
14:37bifocation between liberals and
14:39conservatives in this country. It is
14:40because the establishment, the media,
14:42academic, and entertainment
14:43establishment has made certain sorts of
14:45political opinion, respectable,
14:46reasonable, mainstream opinion,
14:48impossible to express in public. It's
14:49the definition of corruption.
14:50Unfortunately, we're all going to pay
14:51for it. Milo, thanks a lot. That was
14:53interesting. Good to see you.

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