Big Journalism.com reports that its founder, the pugnacious conservative media mogul Andrew Breitbart has passed away of natural causes at the age of 43.

Among his family of sites: Bigjournalism.com, BigHollywood.com, BigGovernment.com, and the eponymous Breitbart.com

Breitbart has done so many outrageous things to attract publicity, the first reaction of many people—including us—was to wonder whether this was yet another stunt. But others are beginning to confirm it.

This is not completely confirmed, although Ben Howe—whose twitter bio states that he does podcasts and videos with Brietbart.com has tweeted out an independent confirmation.

Matt Drudge—with whom Breitbart used to work—is also linking to the story.

The Daily Caller has obtained confirmation as well.

Breitbart was famous several times over.

Last summer, he famously hijacked Anthony Weiner's resignation press conference, after his own site helped reveal the lewd direct messages that took the former New York Congressman down.

He also helped launch The Huffington Post.

He attracted controversy when a video posted on his sites led to the firing of Obama appointee Shirley Sherrod. Later it was discovered that her comments in the video were taken out of context, and Sherrod was offered her job back.

His death leaves a massive void on the right side of the internet.

UPDATE: Our politics editor Michael Brendan Dougherty had a twitter exchange with him just last night >

Watch below how Breitbart's recent reports shook U.S. politics in 2011: