Milo Yiannopoulos won’t be going to Australia as planned.

The British-born, U.S.-based former Breitbart News editor has been denied entry to the country. Australia’s Department of Home Affairs rejected the right-wing controversialist’s visa application this week, it stated, because he failed “the character test.”

“I am confused, appalled, amused and devastated, all at the same time,” Yiannopoulos responded on Facebook. “The idea that any western country would welcome a hate preacher like Omar Abdelkafy while banning a champion of free speech, capitalism and Christianity is unconscionable, but it’s especially awful coming from Australia, until recently a fair-minded land of common sense.”

Omar Abdelkafy is an Egyptian cleric who’s called the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks “a comedy film.” Abdelkafy spoke in Australia in February.

Along with saying his character did not pass muster, Australian immigration officials informed Yiannopoulos that they could deny entry to anyone they have legitimate reason to believe might “incite discord in the Australian community or in a segment of that community."

During Yiannopoulos’s 2017 speaking tour of Australia, “riots broke out between extremist protesters,” The Australian reported. The clashes resulted in injuries to five Melbourne police officers.

Yiannopoulos, 34, blamed “the feral Left” for the violence at his events and says the mainstream media has not been fair to him.

Last year he told journalists: "I can’t wait for the vigilante squads to start gunning journalists down on sight."

In 2016, he spoke at the University of Oregon and declared, “I don’t want any Muslims in the country.” Two months later, Twitter permanently banned him from the social-media platform.

“This is the end for Twitter,” he said at the time.

More recently, he’s been suspended by PayPal and Venmo for anti-Semitic harassment.

Milo Yiannopoulos' speaking engagements frequently draw protesters.AP

After the Home Affairs department’s decision on Tuesday, Yiannopoulos called on Australian voters to keep his banishment in mind the next time they go to the polls.

“The government cannot be involved in deciding which opinions­ are OK to state and which aren’t,” he said. “Australians should remem­ber this day and remember who did this when they cast their votes at the next election.”

The self-described “troll” has been trying to restart his career and broaden his support since February 2017 when a video surfaced in which he advocated for sex between adults and 13-year-olds, a controversy that led him to resign from Breitbart. His planned appearance at that year’s Conservative Political Action Conference was cancelled, and Simon & Schuster jettisoned his book deal.

Yiannopoulos has recently turned to “gospel” singing. Last month CD Baby rejected his new song, “Silver and Gold,” reportedly telling him in an email that the music distributor “will not be working with you in any capacity. Per our terms of service, Section 10b., we may decide not to work with an artist whose content is patently offensive, defamatory, etc.”

-- Douglas Perry

@douglasmperry

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