Journalist fired by CNN after tweeting: ‘The world today needs another Hitler’
Freelance reporter Adeel Raja said he lost his job with US channel, claiming he had 'contributed to the Palestinian cause.'
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
A freelance journalist who worked for the television new channel CNN has raised objections to being fired after he wrote on social media: “The world today needs another Hitler.”
Adeel Raja said he had lost his job with American channel claiming he had posted the tweet having “contributed to the Palestinian cause.”
The producer claimed on Monday that he had been fired from his job as a result of his social media posts and that this impacted on “the West’s claim of freedom of expression and human rights!.”
But an investigation into Raja’s social media use confirmed he had made other inflammatory and openly antisemitic statements.
CNN confirmed the Pakistani based journalist had worked for the channel, but only as a freelancer, and the he would not be used by them again in any capacity.
Glad a single tweet contributed to the #Palestine cause and brought it to limelight with me loosing my job and the West’s claim of Freedom of expression and human rights! https://t.co/pWnYvZrwsS
— Adeel Raja (@adeelraja) May 17, 2021
In 2014, while presumably watching the FIFA World Cup, Raja was also found to have tweeted, “The only reason I am supporting Germany in the finals — Hitler was a German and he did good with those Jews.” The next day, he tweeted, “Hail Hitler.”
Raja had been contributing to CNN from Islamabad, Pakistan since August 2013, according to his LinkedIn profile, and his most recent byline on the news website appears to have been from September 16, 2020.
In a statement CNN said:”Adeel Raja has never been a CNN employee. As a freelancer, his reporting contributed to some newsgathering efforts from Islamabad,” CNN spokesman Matt Dornic told the Examiner.
“However, in light of these abhorrent statements, he will not be working with CNN again in any capacity.”
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