Though it seemed yesterday that Milo Yiannopoulos was almost certainly planning to pull out of his imagined three-ring circus of alt-right speech-making called Free Speech Week, he continues to insist in a Facebook Live press conference that he will come to UC Berkeley on Sunday at noon, along with a couple of his other planned speakers, including anti-Muslim activist Pamela Gellar and InfoWars guy Mike Cernovich. By most accounts, the majority of speakers on Yiannopoulos's original schedule, including headliners Ann Coulter and Steve Bannon, either were never formally invited or have backed out.

As the Daily Californian reported, the Berkeley Patriot was still insisting Friday that Free Speech Week was still on, but as of Saturday morning the student group has officially backed out of the event — something Yiannopoulos says he is "cross" about, but he is nonetheless donating $10,000 to them to improve their website and establish a conservative publication campus. As NBC Bay Area reports, the student group informed UC Berkeley of their decision today.

University spokesman Dan Mogulof said in a statement, "It is extremely unfortunate that this announcement was made at the last minute, even as the University was in the process of spending significant sums of money and preparing for substantial disruption of campus life in order to provide the needed security for these events."

In his "emergency" news conference, Yiannopoulos rejected claims in the media that he never intended to stage his event, pointing to the $65,000 he allegedly handed over to the university (ostensibly for event venue rentals that weren't booked). And as for reports that he created a list of speakers without consulting or inviting some of the speakers themselves, he shrugs this off and claims that the only name on the list that may have been fictitious was Charles Murray's — Yiannopoulos now says Murray's name was only included to "troll" him (Murray has called Yiannopoulos a "despicable asshole").

Yiannopoulos says that Berkeley police are prepared for his arrival, and it's now sounding like Free Speech Week is likely to be just a one-day event, the greatest outcome of which would be if no one showed up. "We shall go on to the end. We shall speak in Berkeley, we shall speak on the plazas and the steps. We shall defend free speech, whatever the cost may be. We shall never surrender!" he writes on Facebook.

Earlier in the week the Berkeley Patriot filed a civil rights complaint with the university, much the way the Young Americas Foundation and Berkeley College Republicans did earlier surrounding a planned appearance by Ann Coulter, alleging that the university had been systematically trying to thwart their First Amendment rights. Below, a letter submitted to the university on behalf of the Berkeley Patriot from Law Offices of Melo and Sarsfield LLP.

Previously: 'Free Speech Week' Likely Cancelled, Milo To Give Theatrical Press Conference Blaming Berkeley