D.C. Metro Pulls “Dangerous” Ads
The Washington D.C. Metro has taken down ads “for an alt-right provocateur’s new book” after receiving numerous complaints from riders, states a media report, which added that ads for Milo Yiannopoulos‘ book “Dangerous” went up in Metro stations within the last few days. The ads featured his photo with the words “The Most Hated Man On The Internet,” or “The Kanye West Of Journalism.”
According to the report, Yiannopoulos was an editor at Breitbart News before he resigned in February.
“The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority responded to multiple tweets … calling for the ads to be taken down. Metro said it has removed the ads from all stations because they “violate” the Metro’s guidelines for advertising, stated the media report.
“Metro said the ad violated the following guidelines:
- “Advertisements intended to influence members of the public regarding an issue on which there are varying opinions are prohibited”
- “Advertisements that are intended to influence public policy are prohibited”
“”Is my face a hate crime? We didn’t have anything to say about issues or policy, unless you consider my face to be a political statement,” Yiannopoulos said in a statement to News4. “So I have a simple question for the D.C. Metro. What advertisement could we have posted that *did not* break those policies?””
“We believe that the removal of our billboards constitutes unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination by a government regulator in violation of the First Amendment and are preparing our response now,” a spokesperson for Milo, Inc. said in a statement, according to the media report.
