International news outlet CNN had to sack Pakistani columnist Adeel Raja after he posted tweets justifying Adolf Hitler and killing of the Jewish people.
Raja had been associated with CNN since 2014 and his last byline was in September 2020. However, when his anti-semitic posts became known where this Islamabad-based journalist had tweeted “the world today needs a Hitler.”, CNN had to fire him away.
However, it must be noted that Adeel Raja “Blue-Tick” Twitter account with over 80 thousand followers is still not suspended even after he called for the mass murder of Jews and spewed hate.
Horrifying tweets by CNN freelancer @adeelraja!
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) May 17, 2021
CNN Statement:
“As a freelancer, his reporting contributed to some newsgathering efforts from Islamabad. However, in light of these abhorrent statements, he will not be working with CNN again in any capacity.” pic.twitter.com/CfxQrSKyqY
Raja’s timeline shows that throughout his association with CNN such hate-filled outbursts was not a one-off tweet and his social media feed is littered with praise for Hitler.
In 2014, Raja used the occasion when Germany reached the FIFA finals and said, “Hitler was a German and he did good with those Jews!” Leaving no doubt about his allegiances, he added a “hail Hitler!” the next day.
CNN said in a statement that Raja had “never been a CNN employee”.
“As a freelancer, his reporting contributed to some newsgathering efforts from Islamabad. However, in light of these abhorrent statements, he will not be working with CNN again in any capacity.”, it said.
Even after CNN axed him, Raja remained defiant. Raja complained that a “single tweet contributed to the Palestine cause and brought it to the limelight with me losing [sic] my job.” He complained that the West supposedly supports freedom of expression and human rights but that he lost his work because of his pro-Hitler tweets.
A few days ago Pakistani actress Veena Malik and former Big-Boss contestant had tweeted support for Hitler and had said “I would have killed all the Jews of the world, but I kept some to show the world why I killed them.” Twitter later had to remove the tweet, however, many people who took screenshots posted it online.
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