Steve Bannon called the New Yorker “gutless” Monday evening for rescinding an invitation to speak at its festival after a day of left-wing backlash.
Mr. Bannon, a former chief adviser to President Trump and the head of Breitbart.com, said in a statement emailed to reporters that editor David Remnick succumbed to a “howling online mob.”
“After being contacted several months ago and with seven weeks of continual requests for this event, I accepted The New Yorker’s invitation with no thought of an honorarium,” Mr. Bannon said.
“The reason for my acceptance was simple: I would be facing one of the most fearless journalists of his generation. In what I would call a defining moment, David Remnick showed he was gutless when confronted by the howling online mob,” he concluded.
The New Yorker Festival made the announcement of the invite Sunday morning and then saw staffers publicly criticize the magazine and such celebrities as Judd Apatow, Jim Carrey and Patton Oswalt say they would not appear if Mr. Bannon did.
On Monday evening, Mr. Remnick told New Yorker staffers in an email that he was disinviting Mr. Bannon.
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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