Milo Yiannopoulos has resigned from his role as a senior editor at Breitbart news, over apparently pro-paedophilia remarks he made in a recently surfaced podcast.
He announced that he was standing down on Tuesday evening in a statement.
He said: "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. This decision is mine alone."
He added: “Breitbart News has stood by me when others caved. They have allowed me to carry conservative and libertarian ideas to communities that would otherwise never have heard them. They have been a significant factor in my success. I’m grateful for that freedom and for the friendships I forged there.”
Mr Yiannopoulos, a vocal Donald Trump supporter who rose to fame for his far-right views, has sparked outrage since footage emerged of him appearing to endorse sexual relationships between “younger boys and older men”.
The “alt-right” figurehead, who was permanently banned from Twitter in July after claims he helped lead the racist and sexist abuse of Ghostbusters actor Leslie Jones, has had his book deal with publisher Simon & Schuster pulled in the wake of the remarks.
He has also been dropped from speaking at the prestigious Conservative Political Action (CPAC) conference, which will feature President Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence, in Maryland next week.
He ended the statement, which was tweeted by a journalist at the New York Times: "When your friends have done right by you. you do right by them. For me, now, that means stepping aside so my colleagues at Breitbart can get back to the great work they do."
Other staff had reportedly threatened to quit if Mr Yiannopoulos was not fired by the alt-right news site.
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