HuffPost: “CNN has terminated its contract with senior political commentator Rick Santorum after racist, inaccurate remarks he made about Native Americans, HuffPost has learned. Santorum, a former Republican senator and two-time failed GOP presidential candidate, sparked outrage last month after claiming there was ‘nothing’ in America before white colonizers arrived and that Native people haven’t contributed much to American culture, anyway.”
“‘We birthed a nation from nothing. I mean, there was nothing here,’ Santorum told students during remarks at a Young America’s Foundation event. ‘I mean, yes, we have Native Americans, but candidly, there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.'”
“Prominent Indigenous-led organizations including the National Congress of American Indians and Illuminative have spent weeks demanding that CNN fire Santorum over his remarks. National civil rights groups have also called for his firing. CNN has stayed silent on the matter. But on Saturday, a CNN senior executive told HuffPost that the network quietly ended its contract with Santorum this week. This executive, who requested anonymity to speak openly, said the decision to cut ties with Santorum came after he went on one of the network’s shows, ‘Cuomo Prime Time,’ to explain himself shortly after he made his racist comments. He blew it, said this executive, and after that, nobody at the network wanted to keep him around.”