A lengthy, exclusive report from BuzzFeed delves into a large cache of emails to and from former Breitbart tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos, and, if they are, as they seem to be, legit, they show that Breitbart and Milo colluded with openly racist white nationalists in writing stories and defining the alt-right, all while publicly trying to distance themselves from these same people. Also in the trove of emails are apparent tips from several purportedly liberal male journalists, helping to feed Milo's anti-feminist crusade with information and misogynistic messages about feminist figures — and the revelation has led to the firing of one of those journalists.

It is a notably long read, but a juicy and disturbing one that shows how Steve Bannon took pleasure in Milo's rise to social media prominence — long before he could cost UC Berkeley hundreds of thousands of dollars just by showing his face — and how Milo leaned on figures in the neo-Nazi and white nationalist movement to help craft stories that would appeal to their demographic on Breitbart.

One of those figures, Devin Saucier, appears to have had enough sway with Milo both to get him to write stories and to kill a story if needed. Saucier — who is allegedly friends with Richard Spencer, started a Vanderbilt University chapter of the now defunct white nationalist group Youth for Western Civilization, and more recently has worked as an assistant to prominent white nationalist Jared Taylor — corresponded with Milo back in the spring of 2016, and Milo even called him "my best friend" in asking a favor of the novelist Bret Easton Ellis (with whom Milo is acquainted), an autographed copy of American Psycho for Saucier's birthday. BuzzFeed found emails from Saucier with article ideas for Milo that Milo then followed through on, like one on the topic of "How trolls could win the general [election] for Trump." And Milo passed Saucier a draft of an article about class-based affirmative action that Saucier ended up telling him to spike, and Milo apparently did.

BuzzFeed also got hold of cellphone video from a karaoke bar in Dallas, apparently shot last year, in which Milo is on stage singing "America the Beautiful" while Richard Spencer and several other white nationalists in the audience are giving Nazi salutes.

In response, Milo tells BuzzFeed in a statement, "I have said in the past that I find humor in breaking taboos and laughing at things that people tell me are forbidden to joke about. But everyone who knows me also knows I'm not a racist. As someone of Jewish ancestry, I of course condemn racism in the strongest possible terms. I have stopped making jokes on these matters because I do not want any confusion on this subject. I disavow Richard Spencer and his entire sorry band of idiots. I have been and am a steadfast supporter of Jews and Israel. I disavow white nationalism and I disavow racism and I always have."

Weirdly, however, the BuzzFeed piece goes on to discover that Milo had passwords for various things that were all Nazi references, like Kristallnacht, and LongKnives1290 (a reference to the Nazi leadership purge known as the Night of the Long Knives, and 1290, the year Edward I expelled the Jews from England). Were these just jokes?

But, as Salon notes today, the news that Breitbart was colluding with white nationalists is "revelatory but not entirely surprising" given the thinly veiled agenda the site has had for several years — an entire section of the site is called "Black Crime," for example. Arguably the bigger revelation has to do with the journalists who don't hail from alt-right circles who popped up in Milo's inbox, apparently taking pleasure from his tearing down of feminists in the media during the GamerGate morass — which, incidentally, seems to be where alt-right terminology like SJW (social justice warrior) gained popularity on Twitter.

Of those journalists who appear to have sent Milo tips are tech reporter and former Silicon Valley staff writer Dan Lyons (who wrote to Milo in late 2015 to question the birth sex of two vocal feminists who were GamerGate targets, Zoë Quinn and Amber Discko, and he has now apologized on Twitter), blogger and tastemaker Adam Grandmaison (who tipped Milo off about investigating a journalist who accused an ex-boyfriend of physical abuse), and former Slate technology writer David Auerbach — who for his part has come out publicly denying he sent any emails to Milo.

Maybe the most surprising of these is senior writer for VICE's feminist blog Broadly, Mitchell Sunderland, who wrote to Milo egging him to "make fun of this fat feminist," referring to the writer and avid Twitterer Lindy West. As of today, VICE has terminated Sunderland, as Mic reports.

If nothing else, the emails go to show that the lines are not always so easily drawn, either in online debates or politics, and that Milo's brand of provocation and outspoken anti-PC-ness has an appeal that extends beyond the right wing. At least back in the days when Milo was still a fairly obscure provocateur who shielded himself from calls of bigotry by pointing to his own homosexuality, he had admirers in many unlikely places — men, mostly, who had to be closeted in their real lives about their sympathy or amusement with attacks on feminism. And the emails show that the world of Breitbart is just as dark, calculated, and corrosive as many on the left have always known.

Previously: Milo Yiannopoulos Spent 15 Minutes At UC Berkeley, Cost Them $800,000