Well what do you know! The headlining acts, so to speak, of Milo Yiannopoulos's stunt of a speaking event next week, former chief strategist Steve Bannon and former Comedy Central Roast punching bag Ann Coulter, have dropped off the schedule! This is either because they canceled or they were never really on it, because, let's face it, neither of them necessarily has anything to gain from being associated with Yiannopoulos at this point, and they'd be wise to steer clear.
The Daily Californian has the newly revised full list of speakers for Free Speech Week, which includes most but not all of the names he had on this schedule he publicized barely five days ago, and it leads us to ask whether "Uncle Steve" Bannon in particular wasn't simply being used as a carrot to draw the attention of the liberal media and activists on the left, to make sure the event gets maximum publicity. Just yesterday Milo was still saying "Uncle Steve" was coming to Free Speech Week in this video retort he made to the university about claims that his event hadn't met its deadlines for security deposits, etc. and in a statement he blamed the university for inciting potential antifa violence by "leaking" Coulter's and Bannon's names to the press a month ago.
Another name missing from the new schedule: Breitbart News London editor Raheem Kassam.
Even last night, as the Chronicle reports, Yiannopoulos was insisting "There is no change to our headliners. ... We will proceed, come hell or high water, inside or out." The university, so far, has only received confirmation from two of the speakers on the long list.
Regarding that "inside or out," it looks like rather than count on the university to provide indoor venues, Yiannopoulos is scheduling multiple events on Lower Sproul Plaza and the steps of Sproul Hall, which is likely to bring more pushback from university administrators.
Meanwhile, Yiannopoulos claims he will be bankrolling the security costs through his company, MILO Inc., to the tune of $250,000, according to another piece in the Daily Cal. He's also alleging that that total security costs will be $1,200,000.
The Daily Cal also brings us some clarification about who, exactly, The Berkeley Patriot really is, as even I was questioning the legitimacy of this so-called student organization and publication. The group, which is the ostensible host for Free Speech Week, is the renamed iteration of the basically defunct conservative print publication called the California Patriot, created over the summer and headed by editor-in-chief Mike Wright. As I noted yesterday, their Facebook presence is barely a month old, but they have a new website that is not the top Google result which as the Daily Cal points out, has only published five articles.
Berkeley Patriot news editor Pranav Jandhyala is careful to explain to the Daily Cal that the group does not endorse Milo, per se, they just support free speech. "Obviously people will go ahead and make the statement that we’re on the far right, that we’re Nazi sympathizers, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth," Jandhyala says.
Previously: Right-Wing Berkeley Students Claim Steve Bannon Is Definitely Coming For 'Free Speech Week'