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Nightline Anchor to Milo Yiannopoulos: 'Are You a 13-year-old?'
Nightline Anchor to Milo Yiannopoulos: 'Are You a 13-year-old?'
The gay, internet troll gets called out for the racism and misogyny he foments.
Nightline's Terry Moran didn't hold back in his evaluation of Breitbart's Milo Yiannopoulos during an interview this week.
"Then you're an idiot, really," he said at one point.
Moran was interviewing the gay, self-described internet troll for a story about bullying online.
"Milo Yiannopoulos represents the tip of the iceberg in a rising tide of hate and abuse in social media," said Moran in a voiceover, "one he clearly sees as a noble purpose."
"I like to think of myself as a virtuous troll," said Yiannopoulos during an interview in London. Yiannopoulos admits that "of course I do say things in a way that is going to elicit a response from people."
Moran called out the Breitbart editor for the language that recently got him banned for life from Twitter. Yiannopoulos led an online mob against actress and comedian Leslie Jones over her appearance in the Ghostbusters reboot, with many of his followers comparing her to an ape -- among other racist comments.
"You called her a dude," said Moran. "If Leslie Jones were right here, would you say, you look like a dude?"
"Yeah, probably," said Yiannopoulos. "I probably would."
"Then you're an idiot, really," said Moran.
Although Twitter banned Yiannopoulos for life, he claims he's not responsible for what happened to Jones, whose website was recently hacked with nude photos of her and pictures of gorillas.
"Why should I have to police other people's speech?" asks Yiannopoulos. He then lightly disavowed what his followers had done. "I'm perfectly happy to tell you I think that stuff is disgusting."
The connection between what he says and what his followers do is plain in sight. Yiannopoulos brags about attacking women for their appearances, something Moran challenged him on.
"You're going to go after somebody's body to denigrate their ideas?" asked an incredulous Moran. "What grade are you in? Seriously. Are you a 13-year-old boy?"
Yiannopoulos said yes he would.
"Because somebody doesn't have a weight that you think is proper? That's revolting," said Moran.
"What's revolting is the body-positivity movement," insisted Yiannopoulos. "What's revolting is this idea now that you can tell women they'll be happy and healthy at any size. Why? Because it tells women that you can be fat and you can be unattractive and you can be happy anyway. That's a lie."
Of the many interviews that Yiannopoulos has done since getting banned for promoting hate speech, the Nightline interview is the most combative. It's labeled now online as "Part 1." Perhaps a second part could ask Yiannopoulos what he's done with the thousands of dollars he raised for a so-called scholarship fund for white men that The Daily Beast reported hasn't doled out a single scholarship.
Watch the interview below:
