Milo Yiannopoulos to self-publish memoir Dangerous and sue publishing house which dropped him for $10 million

The controversial character said he want to send the publisher 'a message'

Milo Yiannopoulos (Getty Images)

Following comments made by Milo Yiannopoulos on paedophilia, publisher Simon & Schuster finally aborted plans to release the former alt-right hero’s book, Dangerous.

The controversial figure has since announced the book will be self-published, and he will sue the publisher for $10 million for backing out of the deal.

Speaking at a party in Miami that was live streamed on Youtube, Yiannopoulos revealed the name of his publishing company, Dangerous Books, which will be part of new venture Milo Inc.

The 32-year-old — who departed from right-wing website BreitBart earlier this year — also announced the lawsuit, saying he wants “to send them a message that they can never again do this to a libertarian or a conservative.”

A spokesman at Simon & Schuster responded in a message to The Guardian: “Although we have not seen any complaint filed by Mr Yiannopoulos and have not yet been served, we will defend ourselves vigorously against any action he may bring against Threshold Editions and Simon & Schuster. We stand behind our cancellation of Mr Yiannopoulos’s book and believe any suit by him to be entirely without merit.”

Footage of Yiannopoulos discussing the age of consent and his own sexual abuse circulated earlier this year. He posted soon after that he regretted the “imprecise language” he used, but stood by what he said.

Following the cancellation, Roxane Gay - author of Bad Feminist, a collection of her New York Times essays, and who pulled her own book from Simon & Schuster - criticised the publisher in an extended Tumblr post.

She wrote at the time: “When his comments about pedophilia/pederasty came to light, Simon & Schuster realised it would cost them more money to do business with Milo than he could earn for them. They did not finally ‘do the right thing’ and now we know where their threshold, pun intended, lies.”