Milo Yiannopoulos has told American colleges to be “on notice” following violent protests over his appearance at a top US university, warning “the president is watching”.
The controversial Breitbart editor’s speech at UC Berkeley on Wednesday night was cancelled after a small group of demonstrators lit fires, smashed windows and set off fireworks on the west coast campus.
Donald Trump intervened into the row over free speech yesterday, threatening to cut federal funding to the university following the violence.
In a tweet shared on Thursday morning, the US president wrote: “If UC Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?”
According the to the university’s website, it receives $370 million a year in federal research funding.
Following Trump’s tweet, Yiannopoulos has heralded himself as the “catalyst” for change.
In a text to news website Business Insider, the 33-year-old journalist said: “The days you could silence conservative and libertarian voices on campus and still expect to collect their tax money are coming to an end.
“I’m confident Trump and his team are watching closely and will act decisively.”
Breitbart’s former chairman Steve Bannon is now White House chief strategist after stepping down to become CEO of Trump’s presidential campaign.
Yiannopoulos - who argues that rape culture is a myth and transgender people are mentally ill - has repeatedly caused controversy on his “Dangerous Faggot” US college tour.
In the UK, a talk he was due to give at his former secondary school was cancelled after the Department for Education’s Counter extremism unit raised safety concerns over the “threat of demonstrations”.