Scheduled Milo Yiannopoulos Appearance Canceled By Patio Theater Amid Protest Plans

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 18, 2017 2:33PM

Milo Yiannopoulos / Getty Images / Photo: Drew Angerer

Saying that the venue has "heard the voices of our patrons and neighbors," the Patio Theater has canceled a scheduled appearance by alt-right-affiliated commentator and former Breitbart senior editor Milo Yiannopoulos.

Yiannopoulus was previously scheduled to bring his Troll Academy Tour to the Patio on Nov. 13 at 8:15 p.m. The listing no longer appears on the venue's website calendar and the Ticketfly event page has been taken down.

"While Patio Theater prides itself on being one of the few truly independent venues in Chicago, the views and opinions of the performers do not necessarily reflect the views of this organization," read a statement from the Patio Theater.

The statement continues:

"We are a multicultural, non-political entity providing entertainment to a multitude of audiences and work with independent producers in an effort to grow each other’s businesses. We have been an incubator for the entertainment industry for many years.

Patio Theater is committed to promoting and supporting diversity and culture, but spares no expense to ensure the safety of our staff, patrons and community at large."

The decision to cancel the event was made yesterday, and safety "was a big factor in our decision," theater operator Charlie Burns told Chicagoist.

Plans to protest Yiannopoulos' appearance emerged on Thursday, the same day that news and concern circulated on social media of Milo's planned speaking gig. As of Wednesday morning, more than 450 people said they would attend the protest and some 2,500 more people were "interested."

Answer Chicago, which created the protest page, wrote on Wednesday:

Burns told Chicagoist on Thursday that rental of the space for Yiannopoulos was a "non-political decision" and said that management was not at first aware that the publisher represented Milo when it sought to secure the venue.

Burns told Chicagoist via email last week, "We reached out to local officials to let them know about this event and had no negative feedback... We will take proper security precautions to make sure the tour, fans and any protesters are safe and respected during the event."

Multiple community posts to the Patio Theater's Facebook page urged the venue to reconsider booking the controversial figure.

Yiannopoulos infamously left Breitbart in February, amid allegations that he had defended pedophilia. He was also banned from Twitter last year due to his role in a harassment campaign against comic actor Leslie Jones. A widely circulated Buzzfeed report from earlier this month documented how Yiannopoulos reached out to white-nationalist figures for their input on a story. The report also featured video of Yiannopoulos performing a karaoke rendition of "America the Beautiful" as white nationalist Richard Spencer gave a Nazi salute.

Milo has encountered a handful of controversies here in Chicago, as well, including a protest against him at a DePaul appearance, criticism when ads for his book, Dangerous, appeared on the CTA, and the Chicago Review of Books calling out his then-publisher, who had given Yiannopoulus a $250,000 advance on the book last year.