Irma: Milo Yiannopoulos says Miami home has been destroyed by hurricane

Controversial right-wing commentator had previously joked about damage storm has caused

Benjamin Kentish
Tuesday 12 September 2017 10:27 BST
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Milo Yiannopoulos was forced to resign from Breitbart News over controversial comments on paedophilia
Milo Yiannopoulos was forced to resign from Breitbart News over controversial comments on paedophilia

Milo Yiannopoulos says his house in Miami has been destroyed by Hurricane Irma.

Posting a picture of the roof having been torn off a building in the city’s West Brickell area, he commented: “MY HOUSE IS GONE”.

Winds of up to 130mph have pummelled the state of Florida in recent days and inflicted widespread damage on cities such as Miami.

Aerial footage of scene of shooting in Miami

Cranes were toppled and a number of buildings heavily damaged.

At least 28 people were killed as the 400-mile-wide storm swept through the Caribbean, and the death toll is expected to rise as clean-up operations begin.

Mr Yiannopoulos, a former Breitbart News writer and editor and a vocal supporter of Donald Trump, had earlier appeared to joke about the destruction the hurricane had caused.

Last week, as the storm hit the Caribbean, he wrote on Facebook: “In more positive Irma news, Richard Branson's Necker Island has been devastated.”

And, as the hurricane headed towards the impoverished Caribbean island of Haiti, he said: “Irma is about to finish what Hillary started: leaving Haiti in ruins.”

That was a reference to Hillary Clinton, who faced questions during her presidential campaign against Donald Trump over the work of the Clinton Foundation in Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake there.

Emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showed senior officals in the US State Department, under Ms Clinton's leadership, asking whether those involved in contributing aid were "friends of Bill" - a reference to Ms Clinton's husband, the former US President Bill Clinton. Opponents allege that the State Department during Ms Clinton's tenure gave special treatment to people who contributed to the couple's foundation.

Both Clintons denied the claim. At the time, Bill said: “Nothing was ever done for anybody because they were contributors to the foundation. Nothing.”

Mr Yiannopoulos has taken a step back since footage emerged earlier this year in which he appeared to defend paedophilia.

The far-right commentator was recorded saying people “get hung up on this child abuse stuff” and that there were people younger than the age of consent who were capable of consenting to sexual activity.

The comments forced him to resign from Breitbart, where he had made a name for himself by publishing controversial and often inflammatory views, including claims that feminism is a “cancer” and transgender people are mentally ill.

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