Rick Santorum blames ‘cancel culture’ for CNN firing

Former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum accused “cancel culture” of costing him his senior political commentator position at CNN, in his first television interview since being fired.

Appearing on Fox News Monday night, Mr. Santorum, who represented Pennsylvania in the Senate from 1995 to 2007, defended the remarks he made a month earlier about Native American culture that sparked the backlash that culminated in CNN terminating his contract.

“One of the things I’m concerned about is that you get savaged by telling the truth,” Mr. Santorum told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “And I told the truth here.”

Mr. Santorum, a two-time Republican presidential hopeful, spent 4.5 years with CNN until being dropped by the network recently amid the uproar over the remarks he made last month.

“We birthed a nation from nothing,” Mr. Santorum said at an April 23 event. “I mean, yes, we have Native Americans, but candidly that — there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.”

CNN subsequently faced calls to cut ties with Mr. Santorum for several weeks before confirming Saturday that it recently terminated its contract with him.

“What I said was not at all disparaging towards Native Americans,” Mr. Santorum said. “What I was talking about is the founding of the United States of America, and that Native Americans did not have a role in the founding of our country.”

Mr. Santorum, 63, acknowledged CNN had every right to fire him for disliking something he said or did, and he said he has no animus toward the network and appreciates the opportunity it gave him.

“But I think it does show that the left is intolerant,” Mr. Santorum said. CNN’s audience is “very left,” he added, and the network knew it would “pay a price” if it kept him employed amid the outcry.

“And the intolerance of the left is the issue here and the cancel culture that is flowing from it,” he said. “And I hear from a lot of liberals – in fact, many CNN contributors who talked to me afterwards — who were very, very concerned about the cancel culture that is now hitting them at CNN.”

Mr. Santorum served two terms as a senator and unsuccessfully sought the GOP presidential nomination in 2012 and 2016. He said on Fox News he plans to “take a little time off to regroup” before pursuing any new opportunities.