CNN has dropped senior political commentator Rick Santorum, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
A network spokesperson did not offer any specifics on the contract termination other than the split was official. Santorum, whose title at CNN was senior political commentator and who has been on the cabler’s payroll as a political contributor since 2017, had been a guest and analyst throughout the presidential campaign and 2020 general election.
The former Republican senator had come under heavy criticism after he made several controversial comments about Native Americans in late April at the Fight for Religious Freedom seminar, where he said pilgrims created a “blank slate” from “nothing.”
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Santorum told the crowd, “We birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here. I mean, yes, we have Native Americans but candidly there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture. It was born of the people who came here, pursuing religious liberty.”
Santorum faced massive backlash over the statements, including from Fawn Sharp, president of the National Congress of American Indians. “Rick Santorum is an unhinged and embarrassing racist who disgraces CNN and any other media company that provides him a platform,” Sharp said in a statement. “Televising someone with his views on Native American genocide is fundamentally no different than putting an outright Nazi on television to justify the Holocaust.”
On May 4, Santorum appeared on Chris Cuomo’s CNN show and walked back his remarks, saying “I misspoke” and “I was not trying to dismiss Native Americans.”
He added, “They have a huge impact, particularly in the West and many other areas of the country, where they have a huge impact on American culture. I was talking about — and I misspoke in this respect — I was talking about the founding and the principles embodied in the founding. The way we treated Native Americans was horrific.”
The Native American Journalists Association strongly cautioned Native American and Alaska Native reporters from working with, or applying to jobs, at CNN following the comments.
On Sunday, the Native American Journalists Association, IllumiNative, and First Peoples Worldwide reacted to the news in a joint statement.
“Finally, CNN has taken the correct action to #RemoveRick after his racist comments that whitewashed history and Native American’s contributions to US society,” reads a statement from the groups. “News organizations must take quick and decisive action to combat racism and white supremacy. CNN must rebuild its trust with the Native community. We call on CNN to take action to diversify its lineup of contributors and staff to include Native peoples.”
The statement continued, “The network must establish an Indigenous Affairs Desk, staff must undergo regular comprehensive anti-bias training and the network must adopt clear standards and policies to ensure respect for Native peoples and Indigenous cultures. We thank activists, organizations, and allies including Allie Young with Protect the Sacred/Harness, Native Organizers Alliance, First Peoples Worldwide, Advance Native Political Leadership, NDN Collective, the National Congress of American Indians, the Native American Journalists Association, Mark Ruffalo, and Sierra Teller Ornelas for helping to hold Rick Santorum accountable.”
HuffPost was first to report the CNN-Santorum split.
Alex Weprin contributed reporting.
May 23, 10:12 a.m.: Updated with a joint statement from Native American Journalists Association, IllumiNative, and First Peoples Worldwide.
