The Japan Times - Court Dispute Features Alleged Racist Texts Attributed to Milo Yiannopoulos

A court fight between Milo Yiannopoulos and his estranged husband, John Campbell, includes text messages that allegedly show Yiannopoulos repeatedly using a racist slur and making demeaning statements before his detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Yiannopoulos has challenged the evidence, calling some messages obvious fabrications and accusing Campbell of sending texts from his phone.

The messages were submitted in court and obtained by TMZ. One text dated March 2025 allegedly called Campbell worthless, used the N-word and said Yiannopoulos had married him only to obtain a green card. Another, from December 2024, invoked marriage vows and told Campbell that he was expected to honor and obey.

Campbell responded in that exchange that he could not be expelled from their marital home simply because Yiannopoulos objected to his attitude. Yiannopoulos allegedly answered that because he paid, Campbell should obey if he wanted his lifestyle to continue. An undated message used the same racial slur while objecting to music and said Campbell’s family should stay in a hotel during a planned visit.

Campbell petitioned for a restraining order in June 2025. He alleged that Yiannopoulos shoved him in April and ordered him to pack his belongings. Campbell also accused his husband of demanding obedience, reacting aggressively when frustrated, threatening repeatedly to remove him from the home and degrading him during at least three other episodes in their seven-year marriage.

Yiannopoulos denied key elements of the claims in his own court filing. He argued that errors in spelling and grammar indicated some texts were written by Campbell, and pointed to the capitalization of the word Black as a style he associated with politics he rejects. He said he categorically denied using the N-word with hateful intent.

His response nevertheless allowed that he might have repeated the term mockingly during heated arguments, possibly while responding to accusations that he had used it. He also claimed that Kanye West had given him lifetime permission to say the slur. Yiannopoulos previously worked as an executive for West.

The allegations contrast with Yiannopoulos’s public statement to The New York Times in 2016, when he described the N-word as ugly and hateful and said he would not use it. In 2021, he announced that he was no longer gay and said Campbell had been demoted from husband to housemate.

The marital case remained unresolved when immigration authorities arrested Yiannopoulos in New Orleans on Thursday. He remained in a detention center pending a hearing. The court has not reached a final determination on the disputed messages or the competing accounts presented by Yiannopoulos and Campbell.

S.Suzuki--JT