Twitter announced Tuesday evening that it banned Milo Yiannopoulos, a controversial user whose visit to DePaul in May sparked protests. The permanent suspension came a day after Yiannopoulos, a tech editor at Breitbart, his followers and others made tweeted racist and sexist statements at Leslie Jones, one of the stars of the new “Ghostbusters” movie.

In a statement, a Twitter spokesman said “People should be able to express diverse opinions and beliefs on Twitter. But no one deserves to be subjected to targeted abuse online, and our rules prohibit inciting or engaging in the targeted abuse or harassment of others.”

Yiannopoulos, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times today, said that the suspension is the “most gigantic possible gift” and said that the ban is politically motivated and represents a “threat to free speech.”