Milo Yiannopoulos today lost an election for a prestigious job at a major UK university, rounding off a terrible few weeks in which he also lost a lucrative publishing contract.
Yiannopoulos was one of 12 candidates in the contest to be the next Rector at the University of Glasgow, and stood on a platform of defending free speech and the “right to crack a joke”.
Aamer Anwar, a left-leaning human rights lawyer and news personality in Scotland beat Yiannopoulos to the position, winning more than half the vote.
The victor got 4,458 votes, compared to 533 for Yiannopoulos, who came fourth.
Anwar campaigned extensively on campus and promised to be an “active” rector (as opposed to incumbent Edward Snowden, who has been in Moscow for his entire tenure).
Anwar promised to argue for cheaper student housing, mental health services and to defend diversity on campus.
The position of rector does not come with any actual powers. But the office holder is invited to high-level university meetings where he is expected to represent the views of the student body.
Yiannopoulos’s candidacy, brought about by a group of students who called on him to defend free expression, sparked a firestorm of emotion, and calls for him to be excluded.
However, university authorities stuck to the criteria that anybody who isn’t a current student can be suggested for the post, currently occupied by Edward Snowden.
Online voting ran for two days, and the result was announced just after 5pm GMT on Tuesday.
Yiannopoulos did not visit Glasgow to campaign in person, though students there protested against him anyway.
Milo urged supporters to back him in an online video message:
Cast your votes wisely. I’ve never heard of any of the other people on the ballot. I can’t honestly say that any of them is going to do as sincere and as well-informed and as well-qualified a job, given the number of college campuses I’ve been on in the last 18 months, the deep affinity and care I have for free expression on campuses.
I don’t think any of my opponents in this election are remotely as qualified as I am to stick up for student interests and to stick up for fun on campus – and your right to have a laugh, have a drink and crack a joke.
Last month Simon & Schuster announced they were cancelling Milo’s contract to write a book because of past comments he made about relationships between boys and men.
Other rivals for the job included former cabinet minister Sir Vince Cable, anti-SJW professor Jordan Peterson, and Brace Belden, a US internet celebrity fighting ISIS in Syria.