Milo Yiannopoulos called for 'gunning journalists down on sight,' says it was 'private joke'

Jessica Estepa | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Police name Maryland Capital Gazette newspaper shooting victims Police in Annapolis, Maryland named the five people killed in the shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper on Thursday. A law enforcement official says has been identified as Jarrod W. Ramos. Police say a person of interest is in custody. (June 28)

Right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos recently told at least two news outlets that he wanted vigilantes to start shooting journalists, but he insisted Thursday that he did so to taunt reporters.

"I can't wait for vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight," the author and agitator told a reporter for the New York Observer over a text message. The news outlet, which wrote about the incident this week, was working on a feature story about a New York City restaurant that Yiannopoulos reportedly frequents.

Yiannopoulos, when asked to elaborate, told the reporter this was his "standard response," according to the Observer.

Yiannopoulos also sent a similar message to Will Sommer, a Daily Beast reporter.

On Thursday, a gunman opened fired in an Annapolis, Md., newsroom, killing five people and injuring several others. Authorities have not said what the motive was or who was being targeted.

Yiannopoulos, 33, confirmed in an Instagram post that he wrote the messages about shooting journalists, but that he sent them to the reporters as a way to troll them.

"You're about to see a raft of news stories claiming that I am responsible for inspiring the deaths of journalists," he wrote. "The truth, as always, is the opposite of what the media tells you."

He continued: "I sent a troll about 'vigilante death squads as a private response to a few hostile journalists who were asking me for comment, basically as a way of saying, 'F--- off.' They then published it."

On Twitter, many condemned Yiannopoulos' remarks.

Former National Security Agency contractor and leaker Edward Snowden, who did not specifically name Yiannopoulos, tweeted "to fight words with weapons is more than violence, it is a crime against the Constitution. Those who justify such attacks are no patriots."

To fight words with weapons is more than violence, it is a crime against the Constitution. Those who justify such attacks are no patriots. https://t.co/WO1BhpFSnQ — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) June 28, 2018

Yiannopoulos put the blame on the journalists who wrote about his remarks.

"If there turns out to be any dimension to this crime related to my private, misreported remarks, the responsibility for that lies wholly with the Beast and the Observer for drumming up fake hysteria about a private joke, and with the verified liberals who pretended they thought I was serious," he wrote.

Yiannopoulos once worked for Breitbart News, but resigned last year after podcasts surfaced in which he seemed to condone sex between men and boys. He has since said he does not condone pedophilia.