Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Pick-up artist’ Roosh V cancels UK events amid anger over ‘pro-rape’ comments

Daryush "Roosh" Valizadeh (Photo: Bartek Kucharczyk)
Daryush "Roosh" Valizadeh (Photo: Bartek Kucharczyk)

Daryush Valizadeh, who calls himself Roosh V, had announced events for “heterosexual men only” across the UK on Saturday, including two in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The 36-year-old American has published 15 books on how to “pick up women” and posts tips on his website on how to “bang” women.

On his Return of Kings blog, he said: “I can no longer guarantee the safety or privacy of the men who want to attend on February 6, especially since most of the meetups cannot be made private in time.

“While I can’t stop men who want to continue meeting in private groups, there will be no official Return of Kings meetups.

“The listing page has been scrubbed of all locations. I apologise to all the supporters who are let down by my decision.”

Protesters had called for the meetings to be banned and a petition lobbying the police and Home Office to ban the UK events has more than 55,000 signatures.

Valizadeh labelled Glasgow a ‘convict resettlement zone’ in a Twitter post, claiming that he had had more threats related to the city’s event than ‘anywhere else combined’.

Valizadeh's reaction to online threats against him relating to the Glasgow event
Valizadeh’s reaction to online threats against him relating to the Glasgow event

Katie Pruszynski, who started the petition on Change.org, said: “He encourages men to ignore when a woman says ‘no’, he believes rape inside private property should be legal and he routinely refers to women as ‘the enemy’.

“He believes sexual gratification is a man’s right, wilfully disregarding the issue of consent.”

She added in her post online: “We will not accept this form of terror against women. Pro-rape advocates directly threaten our safety and normalise the abuse of women and girls.”

In one of his posts, Mr Valizadeh said rape should be legalised “if done on private property”.

“Less women will be raped because they won’t voluntarily drug themselves with booze and follow a strange man into a bedroom, and less men will be unfairly jailed for what was anything but a maniacal alley rape,” he wrote.

The events had been planned for London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds and Shrewsbury.