After a video surfaced of Milo Yiannopoulos sharing his thoughts about underage sex, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) rescinded their invitation for Yiannopoulos to speak during the conference this week in the Metropolitan area. Listen as Larry spoke with Matt Schlapp, Chairman of The American Conservative Union Foundation (ACU), regarding CPAC rescinding the invitation.
An excerpt from Larry’s interview with Matt Schlapp can be found below:
Schlapp: Basically Milo came over to see us at the ACU. We don’t have a relationship with him, we don’t know him. He came by very respectfully and said, ‘Hey, would you give me one of your slots?’ We have over 100 people speaking during CPAC and he wanted one of them. And we thought about it and we talked to him about what his experience was like at Berkeley, and we thought it would be good for our attendees to hear what that’s like. When you have, by some accounts, a controversial message and you come on campus and you’re seen as a Conservative, it’s often that you’re shutdown. And he was shut down. And we think that’s an important message especially if you consider the facts that over 50% of the attendees at CPAC tend to be college age or younger.
Unfortunately, a video came to light that was incredibly distasteful, offensive about pedophilia and we felt like it was incumbent upon us to rescind the invitation.
[…]
O’Connor: You know Milo Yiannopoulos took to Facebook today and tried to explain his entire video that appeared to show that he was in some way advocating, endorsing, or at the very least diminishing the impact of pedophilia and molestation. And I’m sure you read his explanation. What part of his – and I don’t want to get into all the details it’s long and not necessarily stuff that we need to discuss on the air – what about his explanation didn’t cut it for you?
Schlapp: I saw the Facebook post that went up over the weekend and I thought it was the right first step. But I believe that he needs to do a much more assertive job of knocking back. If he believes he was quoted inappropriately or that tape does not reflect his views, he needs to aggressively push back on it. And what was occurring is that everybody was asking me and The American Conservative Union what he meant by it. Well I don’t know him well enough to know his heart, I don’t know what he meant by the words he chose, and it’s up to him to clean up the record. And I’ve urged him to do so and I think he’s taking those steps. You know it’s just not a topic that there is really any debate over. It’s a repugnant thing.
O’Connor: But let’s face it Matt, it’s no mystery who Milo Yiannopoulos was when you invited him in the first place right?
Schlapp: I was okay … Look we are okay with taking controversial topics Larry, you know this because you go to CPAC every year. We’re okay with controversial topics being front and center on the stage. We’re okay with debates. We’re okay with liberals coming and making their point of view, we’ll have them this year. We think controversy should be highlighted with the appropriate tone discussed. But I did not believe it was the right thing, and I think my board agreed, for us to put somebody up on that stage who had comments on pedophilia that were offensive. If he can accurately push back on those comments and make the case that he was misquoted and doesn’t believe those things, I think that would be very good for him to do.
O’Connor: And if he did and made that case, do you think there is still room for him to be included in the event?
Schlapp: There is not room this year, but we’d certainly view it as a welcome step for him to repudiate everything in like manner, take questions, come on your radio show, get asked the questions, get pushed and have to give answers. Look the American people are fair, the Conservative movement is fair. If they can hear a rationale something, you know they will give somebody a shot. That video, to us, was several steps beyond inappropriate.
At the conclusion of the interview, Schlapp interrupted to make a clear statement.
Schlapp: The Milo that takes on sacred cows on campuses is the Milo I think that shows bravery. And we were willing to have him on our stage to discuss that. And I think that we need to make sure that we highlight people who take on these liberal overlords on campus and at other institutions. It’s a very important thing.
CALL: 202-432-WMAL (9625) | 888-630-WMAL (9625)
