Scroll To Top
Media

CNN Finally Fires Rick Santorum

Santorum
Via Shutterstock

The antigay former senator was terminated after making racist comments about Native Americans, but he's spouted xenophobic bile for years.

Nbroverman

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum saw his gig as senior political commentator for CNN go up in smoke this week after he was canned for racist comments.

Santorum, who twice ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination, spoke last month at a Young America's Foundation event where he 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."

Outrage quickly ensued from both Native American groups and decent people shocked at the racist, revisionist talking points. CNN tried to clean up his mess by having him explain his statements on the network's Cuomo Prime Time program, but the arch-conservative didn't apologize for his attack on Native Americans, instead saying the comments were taken "out of context." That sealed his fate, according to a report in HuffPost, which said executives terminated his contract this week.

"I think after that appearance, it was pretty clear we couldn't use him again," an anonymous CNN executive told HuffPost on Saturday.

Many were bewildered that CNN even hired Santorum in the first place, since the former politician built a career demonizing LGBTQ+ people. As recently as 2019, Santorum, utilizing CNN's platform, compared Pete Buttigieg's homosexuality with Donald Trump's infidelities.

Santorum is known for his many other anti-LGBTQ+ stances, including his infamous 2003 comment that if the Supreme Court recognized a right to any type of consensual sex, it could find a right to "man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be." Later that year the court struck down antisodomy laws, but legalization of pedophilia and bestiality has not followed.

The comment led journalist Dan Savage to ask his readers for a new definition of the word "Santorum," and the winning entry defined it as a by-product of anal sex. Google searches for "Santorum" still turn up that definition.

Nbroverman
Advocate Channel - The Pride StoreOut / Advocate Magazine - Fellow Travelers & Jamie Lee Curtis

From our Sponsors

Most Popular

Latest Stories

Neal Broverman

Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.
Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.