In late February, the conservative troll and anti-political correctness crusader Milo Yiannopoulos resigned as tech editor of Breitbart News following the emergence of a video in which he appeared to condone pedophilia.
The resignation came amid reports that “at least a half-dozen” Breitbart staffers had threatened to quit unless the controversial Yiannopoulos was fired.
The day of Yiannopoulos’s resignation, Breitbart’s editor-in-chief, Alexander Marlow, called the comments “indefensible,” “upsetting,” “appalling,” and “troubling.”
But according to emails and documents obtained by BuzzFeed News, less than a week after making these comments Marlow was involved in discussions about funding and staffing Yiannopoulos’s new venture, Milo Inc. Marlow was also named in a preliminary editorial budget as an employee of the company, drawing an annual salary.
Two sources with knowledge of the emails confirmed their authenticity.
The CEO of Milo Inc., Alexander Macris, denied that Marlow was an employee of the company. "He was once on a wishlist but he did not join the company and his job is editor in chief of Breitbart," Macris wrote in a statement to BuzzFeed News. "Mr. Marlow communicates with Milo personally from time to time, but not in any official capacity.”
In a Feb. 27 email to Marlow — at his personal Gmail account — and to Lee Habeeb, formerly the executive producer of The Laura Ingraham Show, Yiannopoulos attached an editorial roster, broken down by position, staff member, and potential salary. In the email, Yiannopoulos wrote that the budget “was assembled by media executive Alex Macris” — then a senior vice president at Defy Media.
The last line item lists Marlow as “Executive Producer,” making $60,000 a year and receiving equity in the company. Yiannopoulos’s proposed salary in the budget is $240,000 a year.
“Alex has never accepted a dime from Milo,” Chad Wilkinson, a spokesperson for Breitbart, told BuzzFeed News.
Then, in a March 2 email to Marlow and Habeeb, Yiannopoulos asked his assistant, Marc Geppert, to suggest dates that the three could meet to “present the budget to investors.”
Marlow responded to the email: “In California likely through the 21st then free.”
Still, Breitbart denied that Marlow had any involvement in the new company.
“Alex hasn’t done any work on behalf of Milo at all,” Wilkinson told BuzzFeed.
Habeeb did not respond to a request for comment.
In April, Yiannopoulos claimed to have received $12 million in funding for Milo Inc. In a press release, Yiannopoulos described Milo Inc. as “a fully tooled-up talent factory and management company dedicated to the destruction of political correctness and the progressive left.” In practice, according to reports, the company will produce and publish Yiannopoulos's various media and touring projects. That includes the publication of Dangerous, Yiannopoulos’s forthcoming book, which was dropped by Simon & Schuster following the pedophilia comments controversy.