Accounts differ as to why Milo Yiannopoulos cancelled his Scottsdale event
PHOENIX (KSAZ) - Milo Yiannopoulos announced he is rescheduling the "A Night With Milo" event in Phoenix, but there are differing accounts as to why the event was canceled.
According to the event's website, Yiannopoulos was due to speak at the event at 7:00 p.m. on March 2, with the venue's address announced on the day of the event.
According to a statement posted on the event's Facebook page earlier on Thursday, Scottsdale Police reportedly informed the promoter and venue that a "credible death threat" against Yiannopoulos has been received, and that police have forbidden the event from proceeding.
"We have no recourse when police make a ruling of that sort -- and we would not want to place my guests at risk of violent encounters -- so we have no option but to refund ticket holders and reschedule the event for later in 2018," Yiannopoulos wrote, in the earlier post.
In the same post, Yiannopoulos claimed police will not provide further information about the specifics of the threat, nor whether any arrests have been made.
Scottsdale Police officials, however, offered a different account on what had happened.
According to an e-mail by Sgt. Ben Hoster, Scottsdale Police learned of a proposed speaking event involving Yiannopoulos in Downtown Scottsdale at around noon Thursday, and when they called the business to check on the status of the event, police were told the event was canceled due to security reasons.
"At that point, we concluded our inquiry into the event," Sgt. Hoster wrote.
Late Thursday night, Yiannopoulos issued another statement on the event's cancellation, claiming the venue where the event was supposed to take place lied about the death threats aimed at him, in an effort to break the contract.
FOX 10 Phoenix has attempted to reach officials with the venue involved, but we have received no response.