CNN has severed all ties with senior political commentator Rick Santorum after he made deeply insensitive comments regarding indigenous communities in April. During a virtual event for Young America's Foundation, the former U.S. Senator told a crowd that the pilgrims created American society from scratch with no help from indigenous communities. He later added that the indigenous communities that were already here didn't have much of a culture before European colonizers arrived.
“We birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here,” he said.
“I mean, yes, we have Native Americans, but candidly, there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.”
After he made comments that many deemed to be offensive and racist, Santorum attempted to explain his point of view further with CNN's Chris Cuomo. He told Cuomo that he "misspoke" and his comments were taken "out of context." However, not everyone was buying his apology. Several civil rights activists and advocacy groups rebuked Santorum's remarks and explanation.
“Rick Santorum is an unhinged and embarrassing racist who disgraces CNN and any other media company that provides him a platform,” National Congress of American Indians President Fawn Sharp stated.
Members of leadership at CNN were also not pleased with Santorum's remarks. A senior executive at CNN told the HuffPost that the network was less than pleased with his remarks and anchors refused to book him for their shows. As a result, the network opted to sever ties once his contract had expired.
“Leadership wasn’t particularly satisfied with that appearance. None of the anchors wanted to book him. So, he was essentially benched anyway," a representative from the network told HuffPost.
“I think after that appearance, it was pretty clear we couldn’t use him again."
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