The ban preventing far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos from entering Australia, prompted by a comment he made regarding the weekend's massacre in Christchurch, is bad news for his host Damien Costas. Not that our hearts are bleeding.
Yiannopoulos had been one of three personalities the Penthouse Australia publisher (today's coded bigotry being yesterday's soft porn) had planned to bring to Australia next month as part of a roving tour. All of the three self-identified deplorables have run into visa problems.
And Costas' company Global Media & Entertainment, which was hosting the events, was on shaky ground in the first place. ASIC filings reveal that on Christmas Eve, lawyers for Max Markson – the promoter of Yiannopoulos' 2017 tour where he was feted in Parliament House by Senator David Leyonhjelm – filed notice to wind the company up, over an unpaid $63,000.
Damien Costas' creditors are closing in. Nic Walker
Markson isn't the only creditor to contend with. Also outstanding, according to the records: $20,491 owed to the company behind Melbourne's Hotel Sofitel, awarded in a default judgment in January. And an earlier judgment that awarded a $5107 bill for a trust whose ultimate ownership we were unable to deduce.
Of course, before Yiannopoulos' ultimate visa rejection, he'd been warned he might be refused over his security bill: $50,000 still outstanding to Victoria Police, after protests at his Sydney and Melbourne events.
Quite aside from their odiousness, Costas' tours have not, in the past, paid their dues. It'd take a brave soul to extend them credit now.