NEW YORK ā CNN is cutting ties with former Republican senator and current TV analyst Rick Santorum over disparaging comments he made about Native American culture.
On CNN, Santorum was a senior political commentator who was often tasked with giving the Republican point of view during campaign coverage. His parting ways with the network was confirmed Saturday by Alison Rudnick, vice president of HLN Communications and CNN Diversity and Inclusion.
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He sparked controversy in an April 23 speech before the Young Americaās Foundation, a conservative youth organization. Santorum said immigrants created a nation based on the Judeo-Christian ethic from a blank slate.
āWe birthed a nation from nothing,ā he said. āYes, there were Native Americans, but there isnāt much Native American culture in American culture.ā
The comment prompted Fawn Sharp, president of the National Congress of American Indians, to call him āan unhinged and embarrassing racist who disgraces CNN and any other media company that provides him a platform.ā
āTo correct the record, what European colonizers found in the Americas were thousands of complex, sophisticated, and sovereign tribal nations, each with millennia of distinct cultural, spiritual and technological development,ā she wrote in a statement.
Sharp called on CNN to fire Santorum or potentially face a boycott from more than 500 tribal nations and its allies worldwide.
Santorum later said on Chris Cuomoās CNN show that he āmisspokeā in the sense that it wasnāt clear that he was speaking in the context of the founding of the United States government.
āPeople say Iām trying to dismiss what happened to the Native Americans,ā he said. āFar from it. The way we treated Native Americans was horrific. It goes against every bone and everything Iāve ever fought for as a leader in the Congress.ā
Santorum's comments have garnered blowback before, especially his views on gay marriage and homosexuality. In 2003, he infuriated gay rights advocates by appearing to compare homosexuality to pedophilia and bestiality