CPAC rescinds offer to have Milo Yiannopoulos speak at annual conference

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has rescinded its offer to have controversial alt-right figurehead Milo Yiannopoulos speak at its annual conference.

The decision to rescind  Yiannopoulos's invitation came after video emerged of him praising pedophilia and talking about how much he enjoyed having a sexual encounter with a priest when he was a young teenager.

"Due to the revelation of an offensive video in the past 24 hours condoning pedophilia, the American Conservative Union has decided to rescind the invitation of Milo Yiannopoulos to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference," said American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp.

Schlapp said he initially invited Yiannopoulos to talk at CPAC due to his record as a purported "free speech" advocate on college campuses, where his talks regularly generate angry -- and occasionally violent -- protests.

In addition to his past praise for pedophilia, Yiannopoulos has also regularly praised white supremacists, attacked reporters using anti-Semitic rhetoric, and made bigoted statements about transgender people.

Yiannopoulos was banned from Twitter last year after he led a harassment campaign against Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones, who was bombarded with racist messages after Yiannopoulos encouraged his fans to attack her via social media.