Steve Bannon gets invited - and uninvited - to prestigious festival

Steve Bannon, US President Donald Trump's former chief strategist. Photo / AP file

The New Yorker, which controversially invited former White House strategist, Steve Bannon to its annual festival, has now disinvited him after an online backlash.

The New Yorker had planned to interview Bannon. The former Donald Trump aide was supposed to be a featured guest during a prestigious gathering that over the years has drawn some of the world's most prominent artists.

The magazine's editor David Remnick told AP that should he interview Bannon in the future it would be in "a more traditionally journalistic setting."

Remnick earlier seemed to have anticipated the backlash that would stem from inviting Bannon to the magazine's prestigious autumn event.

"I have every intention of asking him difficult questions and engaging in a serious and even combative conversation," Remnick told the New York Times. "The audience itself, by its presence, puts a certain pressure on a conversation that an interview alone doesn't do," he added. "You can't jump on and off the record."

The message: Yes, liberal readers, we're inviting a loathsome former White House aide to the New Yorker Festival, but only to beat him up.

Not good enough for many New Yorker faithful, including at least one staff member. Kathryn Schulz, a New Yorker writer who won a Pulitzer Prize for an astounding earthquake story on the Pacific Northwest, tweeted her disapproval thusly:

I love working for @NewYorker, but I'm beyond appalled by this: https://t.co/WlZdsBpF1R I have already made that very clear to David Remnick. You can, too: themail@newyorker.com

— Kathryn Schulz (@kathrynschulz) September 3, 2018

And many like-minded folks used Labour Day to do the work of protest.

The move was denounced by Roxane Gay, Jessica Valenti and many others. Filmmaker Judd Apatow had tweeted he would not attend if Bannon was interviewed.

John Mulaney, Judd Apatow, Jim Carrey, and Jack Antonoff have all tweeted that they're pulling out of the New Yorker Festival over Steve Bannon.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 3, 2018

But now Bannon has been disinvited:

Breaking: @NewYorker has disinvited Steve Bannon from its annual festival. Here's part of David Remnick's note to the staff. pic.twitter.com/lspZPLCiJt

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 3, 2018

Remnick told staff: "I don't want well-meaning readers and staff members to think that I've ignored their concerns."

He added: "I've thought this through and talked to colleagues - and I've reconsidered. I've changed my mind."

- with AP