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Andrew Breitbart, US conservative publisher, dies | |
(40 minutes later) | |
Andrew Breitbart, the US conservative author and activist known for publishing embarrassing sting videos of left-wing groups, has died, aged 43. | Andrew Breitbart, the US conservative author and activist known for publishing embarrassing sting videos of left-wing groups, has died, aged 43. |
He helped set up the Huffington Post and was an editor on the Drudge Report website before running his own sites, including Big Journalism. | |
The website's editor-in-chief confirmed his death of "natural causes". | |
Breitbart reportedly collapsed when walking near his home in Los Angeles, according to the Associated Press. | |
Breitbart had suffered heart problems a year earlier, his father-in-law said. | |
'Happy warrior' | |
"I don't know what to say. It's devastating," Orson Bean, told the Associated Press. | |
Breitbart is survived by his wife Susannah Bean Breitbart, 41, and four children. | |
"We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior," a statement on his website read. | |
Breitbart was at the centre of several controversies involving liberal figures, including publishing tweets from former Representative Anthony Weiner that included photos of the New York Democrat in his underwear. | |
Mr Weiner initially denied he had been sending lewd photos and messages online to women, before he stepped down after admitting the tweets were his own. | |
In 2010, Breitbart published an edited video of a US agriculture department official, Shirley Sherrod, telling a black advocacy group, NAACP, how she had once been reluctant to help a white farmer save his farm. | |
It soon emerged that Ms Sherrod's story, in its full context, was one of racial understanding in which she realised her mistake and ultimately helped the farmer. | |
Ms Sherrod, who is black, was fired amid the controversy, but later offered a new job in the department, and sued Breitbart for defamation. | |
In one of his penultimate tweets - when asked if he had apologised to Ms Sherrod - Breitbart replied: "Apologize for WHAT?" | |
Similar videos made by activist James O'Keefe that led to investigations of the liberal community outreach group ACORN and Planned Parenthood were published by Breitbart. | |
Media Matters, a liberal media watchdog group that had clashed with Breitbart over the years, said in a short statement their "thoughts and prayers are with his family today". | |
"We've disagreed more than we've found common ground, but there was never any question of Andrew's passion for and commitment to what he believed," the statement said. | |
In post quoting a soon-to-be-published book, Mr Breitbart wrote: "I love fighting for what I believe in. I love having fun while doing it. I love reporting stories that the Complex refuses to report. | |
"I love fighting back, I love finding allies, and- famously - I enjoy making enemies." |