A CNN contributor who had a history of praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler saw the broadcaster cut ties with him after his latest missives.
Adeel Raja on Sunday posted on Twitter, “The world today needs a Hitler.” He later deleted the post.
“Adeel Raja has never been a CNN employee. As a freelancer, his reporting contributed to some newsgathering efforts from Islamabad,” a CNN spokesperson told news outlets in a statement. “However, in light of these abhorrent statements, he will not be working with CNN again in any capacity.”
A review of Raja’s Twitter history showed he has posted positively about Hitler, who oversaw the Holocaust, multiple times.
In 2014, Raja wrote, “My support for Germany is due to what Hitler did with Jews!”
“Hail Hitler!” he also said.
Raja defended himself on Monday, responding to a tweet that claimed he lost his job because of other missives about fighting between Israel and Palestinians in the Middle East.
“Glad a single tweet contributed to the #Palestine cause and brought it to limelight with me loosing [sic] my job and the West’s claim of Freedom of expression and human rights!” he wrote.
Raja has since altered his LinkedIn profile to say that his employment with CNN ended in May after nearly eight years. He is listed as an executive producer with ARY News.
Raja has written or contributed to 54 articles for CNN, with the latest running in the fall of 2020.
