WASHINGTON — Metro has pulled ads for controversial right-wing speaker Milo Yiannopoulos’ self-published memoir after determining the ads violated the transit system’s policies banning issue-oriented, political and other advocacy advertising.
The ads went up in stations and on some Metro trains within the last week, and the agency said they have now been taken down.
Yiannopoulos is self-publishing his book after Simon & Schuster dropped a publishing deal in February amid an angry backlash against the publisher from opponents of Yiannopoulos’s “vicious rhetoric.” He announced on Friday that he’s suing the publisher.
Yiannopoulos has been banned from Twitter after a series of tweets in the midst of a racist campaign that had been launched against actress Leslie Jones. He also resigned from Breitbart News earlier this year after comments he made about pedophilia emerged.
Metro uses a contractor to sell and install ads across the system, but ultimately Metro’s leaders can make a final determination.
Metro policies on advertising include:
- “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”
In the past, decisions on which ads to reject have led to lawsuits focused on First Amendment rights in public spaces.
