2ND UPDATE, 6:50 PM: Never one to mince words, Steve Bannon has fired back in his battle with The New Yorker. After being scheduled as a headliner of the October 5-7 event, the former White House Chief Strategist was disinvited after a slew of people including Judd Apatow, Jim Carrey and John Mulaney said they wouldn’t participate if Bannon was part of it. The ex-Breitbart chief fired back In a statement to tonight.

“The reason for my acceptance was simple: I would be facing one of the most fearless journalists of his generation,” Bannon told the paper from Venice, where he is taking in a screeening of American Dharma, a new Errol Morris documentary about Bannon. “In what I would call a defining moment, David Remnick showed he was gutless when confronted by the howling online mob.”

UPDATED 3:47 PM PT: As the backlash quickly flooded Twitter, the New Yorker Festival has announced that they have dropped Steve Bannon as a headliner at the fest.

New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer Prize winner Kathryn Schulz took to Twitter once again to confirm the announcement of the fest dropping Bannon.

“Thanks to everybody for the unequivocal public response,” she wrote. “David Remnick has just informed the staff that the [Steve] Bannon event has been canceled.

Looks like clean-up process of this messy incident has begun.

Thanks to everybody for the unequivocal public response. David Remnick has just informed the staff that the Steven Bannon event has been canceled. — Kathryn Schulz (@kathrynschulz) September 3, 2018

PREVIOUS: That didn’t take long. Just hours after it was revealed that The New Yorker Festival had invited Steve Bannon as a headline interviewee, some high-profile names are withdrawing from the event. Judd Apatow, Jim Carrey and John Mulaney are among those to tweet that they will not be participating. Apatow wrote he would “not take part in an event that normalizes hate.” (See the tweets below).

Earlier, New Yorker staff writer and Pulitzer Prize winner Kathryn Schulz had said she was “appalled” by Bannon’s inclusion and encouraged likeminded people to email the magazine.

PREVIOUS, 1:28PM PT: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s controversial former chief strategist, has been set as a headliner during the upcoming New Yorker Festival — and some folks are calling foul. That includes Pulitzer Prize winning staff writer Kathryn Schulz who tweeted, “I love working for @NewYorker, but I’m beyond appalled by this” and suggested those who feel likewise should email the magazine. (See more reactions below.)

It’s been a little more than a year since Bannon was ousted from the White House, although he’s never been far from the public eye, and today he’s trending on social media as the likes of Ava DuVernay and Chelsea Clinton weigh in on The New Yorker‘s invitation. (Bannon also features in a new documentary by Errol Morris which is debuting at the Venice Film Festival this week.)

NYer Editor David Remnick, however, told the New York Times, “I have every intention of asking (Bannon) difficult questions and engaging in a serious and even combative conversation.”

The event is held in various venues across the city — Bannon’s interview will be at the New York Society for Ethical Culture. It also features voices from the arts who include Jim Carrey, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Zadie Smith and Janet Mock — making Bannon seem even more of a square peg.

Here’s what folks are saying:

If Steve Bannon is at the New Yorker festival I am out. I will not take part in an event that normalizes hate. I hope the @NewYorker will do the right thing and cancel the Steve Bannon event. Maybe they should read their own reporting about his ideology. — Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) September 3, 2018

Bannon? And me? On the same program? Could never happen. — Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) September 3, 2018

I apologize to Susan Morrison as I was really looking forward to our conversation. And I look forward to future @NewYorker Fests & other public, even heated, debates between different voices. But hard pass on this amateur-night sonofabitch. — John Mulaney (@mulaney) September 3, 2018

I was scheduled to appear at The New Yorker Festival in a conversation with @MJSchulman whom I love dearly. After learning of the inclusion of Steve Bannon, I am respectfully saying fuck that. Peace and love! — Bo Burnham (@boburnham) September 3, 2018

I love working for @NewYorker, but I'm beyond appalled by this: https://t.co/WlZdsBpF1R I have already made that very clear to David Remnick. You can, too: themail@newyorker.com — Kathryn Schulz (@kathrynschulz) September 3, 2018

He created an online home for white nationalists to groom and grow their violent base. He cemented his destructive white supremacist views into the DNA of the White House. Now, New Yorker is selling tickets to see him headline. And here we are, folks. https://t.co/JyK8J13Zko — Ava DuVernay (@ava) September 3, 2018

For anyone who wonders what normalization of bigotry looks like, please look no further than Steve Bannon being invited by both @TheEconomist & @NewYorker to their respective events in #NYC a few weeks apart. https://t.co/u0TDfCYrQ1 — Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) September 3, 2018

Hey, New Yorker, I'm happy to come see Steve Bannon speak at your festival if Robert Muller is asking the questions. — Whitney Cummings (@WhitneyCummings) September 3, 2018

Come ON, @NewYorker. The only person who should be interviewing Steve Bannon is Robert Mueller. — Randi Mayem Singer (@rmayemsinger) September 3, 2018

1) Announce Steve Bannon as a speaker at your conference.

2) Sell some tickets.

3) Receive massive outrage.

4) Sell more tickets.

5) Say you’re going to challenge him.

6) Sell more tickets.

7) Allow Bannon to ignore questions and spew bullshit for two hours.

8) Rinse, repeat. — Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) September 3, 2018

I’m not sure how this is meaningfully different from inviting David Duke https://t.co/u4OfM5BXnL — b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) September 3, 2018