Background and career
Milo Yiannopoulos ( yə-NOP-əl-əs; né Hanrahan, Greek: Μίλο Γιαννόπουλος; born 18 October 1984) is a British far-right conspiratorial political commentator, known for his opposition to Islam, feminism, and social justice. He is a former editor of Breitbart News, an American far-right news and opinion website. Yiannopoulos worked for Breitbart from 2014 to 2017, during which time he became a significant voice in the Gamergate controversy. In July 2016, he was banned from Twitter for online harassment of actress Leslie Jones. He was permanently banned from Facebook in 2019. Yiannopoulos solicited white nationalists, such as American Renaissance editor Devin Saucier, for story ideas and editing suggestions during his tenure at Breitbart. In 2017, video clips circulated of Yiannopoulos stating that sexual relationships between 13-year-old boys and adults could be "perfectly consensual" and positive experiences for adolescents. Following backlash, Yiannopoulos resigned his position at Breitbart, his invitation to speak before the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was rescinded, and Simon & Schuster cancelled a contract to publish his autobiography. In response, Yiannopoulos condemned sexual abuse, stated that he was referring to adolescent gay males rather than prepubescent boys, and that his statements reflected a humorous means of handling his own sexual abuse and experience with a priest. In 2022, Yiannopoulos served as an intern for United States Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, later working with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, and rapper Kanye West on the latter's short-lived 2024 U.S. presidential election campaign. In April 2024, Yiannopoulos was listed as Chief of Staff at Yeezy Apparel, but resigned the following month due to West's announcement of an adult entertainment division at the company. As of 2026, Yiannopoulos has resumed work with West, serving as his spokesperson and legal liaison. In August 2026, Yiannopoulos was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), due to an immigration judge issuing a final order of removal the prior month after he failed to appear at a hearing. He was deported to the United Kingdom on 28 August 2026.
Born as Milo Hanrahan, Yiannopoulos was born and raised in Chatham, Kent, England. His father has Greek and Irish ancestry and his mother is German born. He is described as a practising Roman Catholic. His parents divorced when he was a child. Yiannopoulos' mother is Jewish. Yiannopoulos has referred to himself as Jewish; according to the BBC, his maternal grandmother was Jewish. Raised by his mother and her second husband, Yiannopoulos has stated that he did not have a good relationship with his stepfather. As a teenager, Yiannopoulos lived with his paternal grandmother whose surname, Yiannopoulos, he later adopted. Yiannopoulos was educated at Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys in Canterbury from which he has said he was expelled. He attended the University of Manchester but dropped out before graduating; he then read English at Wolfson College, Cambridge, but was expelled in 2010.
After he was kicked out of university, Yiannopoulos initially secured a job at The Catholic Herald. In 2009, Yiannopoulos moved to technology journalism with The Daily Telegraph. His Telegraph columnist biography described him in 2009 as one who "writes sceptically about Web 2.0 and social media but enthusiastically about the internet in general."
In November 2011, Yiannopoulos co-founded The Kernel. In March 2013, The Kernel was shut down amidst allegations of unpaid wages, at a time when Yiannopoulos was editor in chief and sole director of its parent company, Sentinel Media. It was reopened later that year under Kernel Media, with Yiannopoulos remaining as editor in chief and having privately settled the previous debts. In 2014, The Kernel was acquired by Daily Dot Media, the parent company of The Daily Dot. After the acquisition by Daily Dot Media, Yiannopoulos stepped down as editor in chief, although he remained an advisor to the company.
In 2014, Yiannopoulos started writing for Breitbart News, and in October 2015, Breitbart placed Yiannopoulos in charge of its new "Breitbart Tech" section. The site had six full-time staff, including esports specialist Richard Lewis, and was edited by Yiannopoulos until his resignation on 21 February 2017.
In 2014, Yiannopoulos emerged as a "lead actor" in the Gamergate harassment campaign through his work at Breitbart, becoming one of the most vocal of Gamergate's supporters. Yiannopoulos employed Gamergate as a basis for online attacks on women, and his role in Gamergate allowed him to become one of the central figures in the mainstream growth of the alt-right. Before Gamergate, Yiannopoulos referred to gamers as "pungent beta male bollock scratchers" and also said that "few things are more embarrassing than grown men getting over excited about video games".
