What Does It Take to Get a White Man Fired From CNN?

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I got four warnings there. Reza Aslan and Octavia Nasr and Marc Lamont Hill didn’t get off with just warnings. Rick Santorum seems to be just fine. Can you spot the difference?

Wajahat Ali
Published May. 02, 2021 5:09AM ET

What will it take for CNN to fire Rick Santorum, and why do double standards appear to persist that protect white conservative men in cable news but not their colleagues of color?

It’s a perennial question, one I’ve been on the receiving end of and that was raised most recently by Rick Santorum’s latest ignorant, bigoted, and controversial comments in a career built on such comments. At a recent speech for the ultra-conservative Young America’s Foundation summit, the CNN commentator and former senator echoed the talking points of racists when he incorrectly alleged that white European Christians “came [to America] and created a blank slate; we birthed a nation from nothing.” His White Nationalist Guide to U.S. History conveniently omitted colonization, slavery, murder, and theft—and dismissed Native Americans with the claim that “there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.”

I was utterly shocked that a former Republican presidential candidate who once compared homosexuality to bestiality and then landed a lucrative contract with CNN would say something so offensive! It’s comforting to know that it still pays to be a bigot during a pandemic and recession. While Santorum has apologized for some of his past homophobic comments he’s never done so for his many Islamophobic ones—including conflating radical Islam with mainstream Islam, saying “Sharia law is evil,” advocating for Muslim profiling, believing that the U.S. Constitution does not protect Islam in the same way it protects Christianity, and associating with hatemongers such as David Horowitz all while obsessively pushing a line about Muslim birth rates in Europe, where natives are supposedly giving ground in a “war” with radical Islam: “Europe is on the way to losing. The most popular male name in Belgium - Mohammad. It’s the fifth most popular name in France among boys.”

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As a person of color, you know you’re effective and threatening when you’re consistently being targeted and smeared by the right-wing ecosystem, an incestuous group that creates and blasts the same talking points across multiple media platforms at the same time, hitting you like a blitzkrieg. I was apparently crushing it, because I was given four warnings by CNN management, each one in response to a wave of outrage manufactured by conservatives responding to basically benign comments. As it turns out, the “F your feelings” crowd is full of snowflakes who demand safe spaces for themselves.

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[paleotn]

1. I'm guessing CNN thinks....

if they fired every reich wing commentator for saying something offensive, incredibly stupid or downright evil, there wouldn't be a single one of them on air in a weeks time.

CNN is trying desperately to seem balanced. But that needs to be totally redefined. Bring on Bill Kristol and guys like that. They're wrong on most things, but not psychotic and fascist. In defense they can say, "Sure, we bring on folks from the right to balance the left. But we draw the line at those who are nutty as toons or foment sedition and treason." I think most Americans would understand. Those who actually count anyway.

[Polybius]

2. Well, jerking off on a Zoom meeting didn't even do it

I believe Jeffrey Toobin is still unemployed by them.

[Shermann]

4. Well it was a work meeting for the New Yorker

Let him whip it out for Ana Cabrera and Brianna Keilar to ogle at and see how he fares with CNN.

[TheBlackAdder]

3. He parlayed that 2-term senate gig into a paid perpetual bullshiter. Most in his district hate him.

.

Gotta hand it to him. He's found a way to make himself valuable to a bunch of different networks.

Just like FOX's Judge Winebox.

.