PHOENIX — Milo Yiannopoulos, a controversial conservative speaker, canceled a Phoenix-area event scheduled for Friday after he claimed he received a death threat.

In a post, Yiannopoulos said the Scottsdale Police Department had received a credible threat against his life and told him the event would not be allowed to proceed as planned.

URGENT NOTICE TO PHOENIX TICKET-HOLDERS Scottsdale Police informed the promoter and venue for Friday night’s “A Night With Milo” this evening that a credible death threat against my person has been received. A credible death threat is one that is “real and immediate,” not conjectural or hypothetical. Ordinarily, this would suggest that someone with knowledge of our secret venue and the time I would be speaking provided the police with detailed information about his or her intention to take my life and the police were convinced that this person had the means to do so and intended to carry out the threat. Credible death threats are relatively rare, compared to the usual volume of threats received by any public figure. Consequently, the police have forbidden us from proceeding with this event. 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. I’m furious that these violent left-wing tactics are being allowed to dictate the terms and limits of debate in America, supposedly the land of the First Amendment. The police will not provide further information about the specifics of the threat, nor whether any arrests have been made. I apologize to ticket-holders. I’d picked a really cute outfit and everything. But truly free speech in America is reserved for the political Left. — MILO For information about refunds, contact your point of sale. For press enquiries, write to [email protected] Scottsdale Police can be reached at (480) 312-5000.

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“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,” the post read.

Scottsdale police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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