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Yiannopoulos drops lawsuit against S&S

In the US, far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos has withdrawn his lawsuit against Simon & Schuster (S&S), reports the Guardian.

In documents filed in New York state supreme court, Yiannopoulos and S&S asked that the case be dismissed ‘without costs or fees to either party’.

In a prepared statement, the publisher said it was pleased that the lawsuit had been ‘withdrawn, with prejudice, and with no payment from Simon & Schuster’. ‘We stand by our decision to terminate the publication of Mr Yiannopoulos’ book.’

Yiannopoulous filed a US$10 million (A$12.7 million) lawsuit against S&S, claiming the publisher had breached its contract by cancelling the publication of his memoir, Dangerous.

Yiannopoulos had received a reported US$250,000 (A$317,075) book deal with S&S conservative imprint Threshold Editions in December 2016, which attracted criticism from writers and the publishing industry. After S&S cancelled the release, Yiannopoulos went on to self-publish the book.

In January this year, Yiannopoulos’ legal counsel withdrew and the author announced that he would represent himself.

Writing on Facebook on Tuesday, Yiannopoulos said ending the suit was a ‘tough decision’ but the ‘right one’. ‘I don’t want to spend all the money I made from my book, and the next two years of my life, on a lawsuit,’ he said.

Dangerous was never picked up for distribution by S&S in Australia or New Zealand.

 

Category: International news