Yiannopoulos resigns from Breitbart News after paedophilia comments

Right wing commentator and polemicist Milo Yiannopoulos, on Tuesday resigned from his position as an editor at Breitbart News after videos surfaced in which he appeared to condone paedophilia.

"I would be wrong to allow my poor choice of words to detract from my colleagues' important reporting, so today I am resigning from Breitbart, effective immediately,'' The New York Times quoted Yiannopoulos as saying in an announcement.

"This decision is mine alone,'' he said.

Yiannopoulos's resignation followed days of tumult after a conservative group called the Reagan Battalion posted a video that showed him condoning sexual relations between men and boys as young as 13 and jokingly dismissing the gravity of pedophilia by Roman Catholic priests.

On Monday, the organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference revoked its invitation for Yiannopoulos to speak this week, and the publisher Simon & Schuster also said it was canceling the publication of his book, "Dangerous."

Yiannopoulos attempted to explain his comments in posts on his Facebook page, saying he was a victim of his own "British sarcasm, provocation and gallows humor".

This is not the first time has inspired outrage. His provocative, critical statements about Muslims, transgender people, immigrants and women's rights have angered liberals and conservatives alike, and his lectures on college campuses have been met with protests that have at times turned violent.