International news outlet CNN sacked Pakistani columnist Adeel Raja after it emerged that he had posted tweets lauding the virtues of Adolf Hitler and his attempts to annihilate the Jewish people.
Raja had been publishing at the outlet since 2014 and his last byline was in September 2020.
As recently on Sunday, the Islamabad-based journalist tweeted “the world today needs a Hitler.” A cursory glance at Raja’s timeline revealed that this was not a one-off tweet and his social media feed is littered with praise for Hitler.
Raja used the occasion of the 2014 World Cup to remark that he would be supporting Germany in the finals because “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 “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.”
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.
Pakistani actress Veena Malik had earlier tweeted support for Hitler. She posted a quote on Twitter, claiming Hitler 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 removed the tweet but some screenshots of it can still be found online.