Midwest FurFest Is Latest Group To Ban Milo Yiannopoulos

ROSEMONT, IL — The deplatformed former Brietbart employee Milo Yiannopoulos has been banned from an upcoming furry convention after registering for the event, organizers said. Costumed attendees dress as anthropomorphic mammals, and their annual midwest event is the nation's second largest.

"Mr. Yiannopoulos's attendance at the convention may lead to an inability to provide a safe and welcoming experience for convention participants," according to a statement from Midwest Furry Fandom, the Rosemont-based organizers of the 20th annual Midwest FurFest event, set for Dec. 5 to Dec. 8 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center.

The right-wing provocateur, who recently announced he was adopting a "fursona" as a member of the furry fandom community, registered for Midwest FurFest and suggested he should host a panel called "The Politics of Fur," Right Wing Watch was first to report. After learning of his plans, convention organizers issued a release saying Yiannopoulos would not be welcome at this year's event or any future FurFests.

"Self-registration for our event does not imply a given individual's presence is condoned or appropriate," Midwest FurFest organizers said Monday on Twitter.

The 20th annual furry convention this year will mark the fifth anniversary of the unsolved suspected chemical attack that sent 19 people to the hospital from the Hyatt Regency O'Hare in Rosemont. Police investigated the release of a high level of chlorine into the hotel as an "intentional act." Rosemont police and the FBI opened an investigation and closed it about six months later. No one has been charged.

Earlier: Someone Tried to Gas the Furries with Chlorine at Midwest FurFest Convention in Rosemont

UPDATE: I just got a statement in from Midwest FurFest:

"The board of Midwest Furry Fandom, consistent with our posted code of conduct, has rescinded Mr. Yiannopoulos’s registration. He is not welcome to attend this or any future Midwest FurFest event.” https://t.co/M5ynm0tcyP
— Jared Holt (@jaredlholt) September 16, 2019

As the "tech editor" at Brietbart News, Yiannopolous' coverage of the "alt-right" movement during the 2016 presidential campaign was "all but line-edited by a white nationalist, laundered for racism by Breitbart's editors, and supervised by [Steve Bannon,] who would in short order become the president's chief strategist," BuzzFeed News reported after acquiring a cache of internal emails. Yiannopoulos resigned from Brietbart in February 2017 and lost a book deal following a controversy over comments he made that appeared to endorse sexual relationships between "younger boys and older men."

In 2016, Yiannopoulos was booted off Twitter after former SNL cast member Leslie Jones reported him for instigating racist attacks against her. In May of this year, Facebook banned him from its platform and Instagram, along with Infowars founder Alex Jones, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and others shortly after its live broadcasting features were used to disseminate videos of a massacre at a mosque in New Zealand.

In 2017, a couple was charged in connection with the shooting of an anarchist protester in Seattle outside a Yiannopoulos event at the University of Washington. A King County jury last month was deadlocked due to the "bias" of some of its members, the foreman told the Seattle Times, and a judge declared a mistrial.

Not all furries reject Yiannopoulos. A Colorado-based group called Furry Raiders, whose blog complains of bullying by "social justice warriors" and people getting called Nazis if they are "not a sheep."

The Furry Fandom will always be a open and free place to express yourself.

We're happy to welcome Milo Yiannopoulos to the Furry Fandom and the Furry Raiders.#theycantbanusall pic.twitter.com/Ks1zVUyK01
— Furry Raiders (@Furry_Raiders) September 15, 2019

Some of the Furry Raiders' costumes and designs contain Nazi symbolism, Splinter News pointed out. According to WikiFur, members of the group have been banned by some portions of the furry community after sharing explicitly Nazi imagery.

Following the loss of millions of followers across major social media platforms, Yiannopoulos said he has found it difficult to generate income.

"I can't put food on the table this way," Yiannopoulos complained, calling it "demoralizing" and saying he refused to "waste myself on an audience of 2,000" — the amount of eyeballs he was able to acquire via a Dubai-based messaging app on which he commands his largest number of remaining followers.

Yiannopoulos complained about another social media site popular among the so-called "alt-right" movement being "relentlessly, exhaustingly hostile and jam-packed full of teen racists who totally dictate the tone and discussion."

Milo reveals just how much the far right are struggling after being deplatformed from the main social media sites. pic.twitter.com/oB3T94J89B
— Roanna (@witchofpeace) September 9, 2019